The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Rallies, contests for children mark cancer awareness day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 08, 2006
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Rallies, contests for children mark cancer awareness day

Staff Reporter

Healthy food habits, abstaining from use of tobacco stressed

65,000 new cancer cases diagnosed every year in TN. More women suffer from breast cancer in Chennai. More men suffer from tobacco-related cancers.

WINNING SPEECH: M.Shobana (right), third prize winner in Tamil elocution contest and L. Beno Zephine, first prize winner in English elocution from Little Flower Convent for the Blind. - PHOTO: SHAJU JOHN.

CHENNAI: Support groups and institutions treating cancer organised rallies and contests for children as part of the National Cancer Awareness Day observed on Tuesday.

Despite rain, children walked to spread the message that cancer is preventable, curable if detected early and treatable even at a late stage.

According to oncologists, who spoke to first-year nursing and medical students at the Stanely Medical College and to schoolchildren who participated in an elocution contest at the Cancer Institute in Adyar, healthy food habits and abstaining from the use of tobacco and alcohol could largely prevent cancer.

Tobacco was a main cause of cancer. So were westernised food habits. Consumption of junk food without exercising and a deadly combination of tobacco, alcohol and highly spiced food are high-risk cancer producing activities, doctors told children.

At the Stanley Medical College, the day began with actor Balaji of the `Crazy' Mohan team speaking to the students, who presented a hilarious skit to drive home the message that cancer is preventable and treatable. The hospital has begun a month-long screening programme for gastro-enterological cancers.

Cancer Alleviation Foundation managing trustee Sarala Panchapakesan spoke.

S. Vijayaraghavan, managing director, Paterson Cancer Centre in Vijaya Health Centre, said 70 of the 100 patients who were depressed were vulnerable to the disease. As food habits changed cancer could also shift. A diet rich in vitamins A, C, E, calcium and Selenium, fibres and fruits and vegetables would help to prevent cancer.

An interactive session with patients and their attendants was also held. At the Cancer Institute, schoolchildren participated in an elocution competition. Joint director of Higher Education A. Karuppusami distributed prizes and T. Rajkumar, scientific director, Cancer Institute (WIA), distributed certificates.

He said that in the city more women were succumbing to breast cancer while nearly 45 per cent of the cancer cases among men was due to use of tobacco. In women, the incidence of tobacco-induced cancer was 20 per cent.

Detection at pre-cancerous stage could bring down the cost of treatment. But treatment at a later stage was also possible, thanks to technology, he said. Currently, eight lakh people died of tobacco-related cancer in India. The figure was expected to rise to alarming levels, he said. With more teenagers across the world taking to smoking, nearly 250 million (a fourth of India's population) would die prematurely owing to tobacco-induced diseases.

At a rally organised by CAN STOP, students carried placards highlighting the dangers of using tobacco.

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