World Cancer Day 2014: busting cancer myths

TORONTO — To mark World Cancer Day, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is joining hundreds of organizations around the world to help bust common myths and misconceptions about cancer.

“Given that it’s World Cancer Day, it’s a great chance to let Canadians know they live in a country that has a cancer control strategy and that means people are working together across the country to try to make inroads as quickly as we can. I think that is very good news,” said Dr. Heather Bryant, the Partnership’s Vice-President of Cancer Control and a Board Member at the Union for International Cancer Control, the organization that coordinates World Cancer Day .

Dr. Bryant underlined another important message she hoped World Cancer Day would help get across to Canadians: that they can make changes in their own lives to help lower their risk of cancer.

“Although we can never guarantee that even by doing everything right, that we won’t be diagnosed with cancer, we do know that avoiding tobacco, having a diet that is high in fruit and vegetables, getting appropriate levels of physical activity, and avoiding unnecessary ultraviolet radiation are a number of things that Canadians can do to protect themselves as well.” said Dr. Bryant.

Cancer myths

For World Cancer Day 2014, the Partnership asked Canadians on the street and experts from across the country to share their thoughts around common cancer myths and misconceptions. Watch the following videos to test your own knowledge and to learn the truth behind each myth:

• Myth: I’m 50 and have no symptoms of colon cancer, so I don’t need to get screened
• Myth:  Tanning beds are safer than outdoor tanning
• Myth:  I feel healthy, so I don’t have breast cancer
• Myth:  Cancer is a death sentence 
• Myth: Carcinogens don’t cause cancer
• Myth: I can’t do anything to help prevent cancer

World Cancer Day

On February 4 every year, World Cancer Day unites cancer stakeholders from around the world to raise awareness of cancer globally. It is coordinated by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and is supported internationally by the world’s major cancer societies, ministries of health, research institutes, treatment centres and patient groups, including the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. To learn more, please visit the World Cancer Day website.