China's cancer crisis
- By Yan Pei
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 16, 2013
Cancer villages in China
Zhongshan City was one of the first cities in China to set up cancer registry sites. Lin County in Henan Province, which has been upgraded to Linzhou City, established the first cancer registry sites as early as 1959, because of its unusually high incidence of esophageal cancer. Jiangsu's Qidong County (which has been upgraded to Qidong City), sees many lung cancer cases and established a cancer registry mechanism back in 1972.
Today, these traditional major cancer sites seem to be getting less attention than before. Some civil groups draw out a map of China's cancer villages based on historical public reports. The map provided a direct impression of China's cancer situation and the phenomenon of cancer villages has attracted worldwide concern; however, the term "cancer village" is not seen in any academic materials. As cancers are the combined results of genetic and environmental factors, it's extremely difficult to determine the reason behind any specific case of cancer. A good example of this is that despite decades of follow-up studies, the reason for Zhongshan's high instance of head and neck cancer is still undetermined.
China's Ministry of Environment Protection published its 12th Five-Year Plan for Prevention and Control of Chemical Risks to the Environment. In the plan, the existence of China's cancer villages is admitted for the first time and they are defined as a severe health and social problem. Prior to this, research completed three years ago by Yang Gonghuan, a former deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), had already revealed a connection between water pollution and cancer risk in the rural areas along the Huai River. Yang's findings could be seen as the most direct explanation of cancer villages in academic circles. In spite of this, no mention of cancer villages can be found in the 300-plus page government-recognized 2012 Cancer Registry Annual Report.
Continuously worsening situation
What's worrying is that the outlook for improvement appears bleak at best and hopeless at worst. "We'll be lucky if, in 10 years time, the situation just stops worsening," said Wang Ning, deputy director of Beijing Cancer Prevention & Research Office. "There is no chance incidence of cancer will drop in that time." The prognosis for lung cancer, China's most deadly form of the disease, is even bleaker, with an expert at Beijing Cancer Hospital quoted as saying that China is expected to see a blowout in incidences of lung cancer by 2033.
In light of this worsening situation, the Ministry of Health released the "Outlines of China's Cancer Prevention and Control Plan (2004-2010)" in 2003, with the principle aim of improving cancer registration efforts to boost prevention. By the end of 2012, China had 222 cancer registry sites, covering a total of 200 million people. These efforts are only the first step in preventing and controlling cancer in China.
China's high cancer incidence rate is a consequence of the country's social development pattern in the past decades taking its toll on the country's environment, population structure and lifestyles. Unlike some illnesses, however, it cannot simply be ascribed to economic circumstances: Incidence rates of both "poor cancers" (cancers that mainly afflict those on low incomes) and "rich cancers" (cancers that are triggered by high-fat, high-sugar or high-salt diets), are increasing, more young people become cancer patients, and China's population is rapidly aging. If China fails to formulate an effective national strategy to combat cancer, the situation will worsen in the coming decades, leaving every Chinese citizen vulnerable to the increasing cancer threat.
On an individual level, a sustained economic development pattern and a healthy personal lifestyle are far more helpful in preventing cancer than medical advancements. Prevention is, after all, better than cure.
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