Jersey’s battle with cancer

And it could be said that we in Jersey have more reason to be alarmed by the idea of cancer than people living in other places. This week, the Jersey Evening Post has highlighted the worrying fact that many forms of cancer are more prevalent in Jersey than in many communities which, in broad terms, share our living conditions.

Jersey has the unenviable title of being the skin cancer capital of Britain and, perhaps just as worryingly, rates of two other forms of the disease – lung and head and neck – are among the highest in Britain and similar to those in deprived areas of northern England.

But behind any problem is a cause, and there is no escaping the fact that the cause in this instance is our lifestyle.

Anyone shocked by this newspaper’s cancer series would do well to examine how they choose to live their lives. Anyone can develop cancer but, equally, we can all make changes to reduce our chances of being struck down with the disease. After all, many of Jersey’s most common cancers are inextricably linked to one of three things: our historically high smoking rates, our long-standing problem with alcohol abuse and, in the case of skin cancer, our love of the midday sun.

It would, therefore, be fair to assume that we all can play our part in reducing our shameful cancer rates by reducing our alcohol intake, quitting smoking and taking the necessary precautions when enjoying our summer.

Meanwhile, it must be stressed that while the incidence of various forms of cancer is high here, cancer-related death rates are not.

This is thanks, in a large part, to the work of the Health service which, on a whole, appears to be providing a quick and efficient service which can dramatically reduce the waiting time between a first appointment and treatment when compared to the UK.

And the general service is likely to improve very soon with an overhaul of the cancer screening programme which will include the introduction of a bowel cancer screening programme not yet available in the UK.

It would be hoped, therefore, that with the continued improvement of medical treatment, and a few sensible lifestyle changes from Islanders themselves, Jersey will one day break free from its association with worryingly high cancer rates.