4 February 2020
Ten Key Facts for World Cancer Day
Today is the 20th Anniversary of World Cancer Day. With one in two people in the UK now expected to be diagnosed with Cancer at some point in their lives, we’ve put together Ten Key Facts on Cancer to help raise awareness:
- Poor diet and lack of exercise are known to be contributors to cancer. Employers can offers nutrition talks and group physical challenges to encourage their workforce to be healthier and more active.
- Data from the World Health Organisation suggests between 30-50% of all cancer cases are preventable. Leading risk factors are smoking, alcohol, environmental, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and cancer-causing infections.
- Worldwide, tobacco use is the single greatest avoidable risk factor for cancer. 22% of cancer deaths are caused by tobacco use and up to 10% are related genetic mutations.
- Mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos, is the UK’s single biggest industrial killer. Over 5,000 deaths a year can be attributed to asbestos exposure, from either Mesothelioma or other asbestos related lung cancers.
- There are over 200 types of cancer and in the UK 54% of all new cases are due to breast, prostate, lung or bowel cancer (2014-2016).
- On average, 20 tradesmen a week still die of asbestos related diseases
- There is no known safe threshold of exposure to asbestos fibres. This means that the inhalation of small quantities, even over a short period, can lead to mesothelioma decades after exposure.
- Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the World, although in the UK breast cancer is the most common, accounting for a sixth (15%) of all cases combined. (2014-2016) .
- More than half of new cases of cancer in men are prostate, lung or bowel cancer 2014-2016 average in the UK. More than half of new cases of cancer in women are breast, lung or bowel cancer, 2014-2016 average in the UK.
- Every two minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer.
Resource:
Enquin Environmental is a UKAS accredited Asbestos Consultancy and a UKATA registered Training Provider. We provide a highly specialised portfolio of asbestos management services to a range of clients across the UK .