News from the cancer side, June 26

It’s really summer finally! Have a great weekend!

News from the cancer victims

Remembering Farrah Fawcett
I come from a generation who grew up with the TV series Charlie’s Angels (yes, it was a series before the films!), Six Million Dollar Man and Wonder Woman. Of the three original Angels, Farrah Fawcett was probably the most glamorous and sexiest. She was very famous back then and even became more famous when she married, then later divorced “Six-Million” lead star Lee Majors. TV shows come and go. Thirty years later, I was saddened to hear about Farrah’s battle with rectal cancer. She had a successful surgery to remove the tumor but it came back and later metastasized to the liver.

Fawcett appeared in a cancer documentary film last month wherein she shared her own cancer story. Earlier this week, her long-time partner Ryan O’Neal (of the Love Story fame) asked her to marry him and she accepted. One day later, on June 26, Farrah Fawcett succumbed to cancer and moved on to a better place.

News from the cancer researchers

United States and the Republic of Chile Partner to Battle Cancer
The US National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Chile have formed alliance “to accelerate progress against cancer in Hispanic populations in the United States and Latin America.” The two  institutions will closely collaborate to to advance cancer research. A 2006 estimate showed cancer as the second leading cause of mortality in Chile.

News from the legislators

Tobacco Regulation Bill Becomes Law
US President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act granting the US FDA regulatory powers over production, sale and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products. According to President Obama

“Today, thanks to the work of Democrats and Republicans, health care and consumer advocates, the decades-long effort to protect our children from the harmful effects of tobacco has emerged victorious…This law will save American lives and make Americans healthier.”

News from the toxicologists

EPA Estimates Cancer Risk Associated With Air Pollution
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that some regions of the US face greater health risks from air pollution than others. The agency looked at 181 different air pollutants, including benzene, methylene chloride, and acrolein. 80 of these pollutants which may come from traffic-related or coming from industrial sources are thought to increase cancer risk. The EPA also identified about 600 neighborhoods in the US where people are exposed to higher concentrations of toxic air compared to the rest of the country.

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