It took Mr Michael Noonan, when he became Minister for Health, nearly two years to develop a policy on cancer which he had hoped to do in 12 weeks. But today there is reassurance from Professor James Fennelly, the distinguished oncologist, Chairperson of the National Cancer Forum and Special Adviser on Cancer Services to the Department of Health and Children, that the three-year cancer strategy that was developed as a result of Mr Noonan's initiative is on target to reduce cancer deaths in this State by 15 per cent in the next four years. Currently, there are almost 8,000 deaths a year from cancer giving a cancer mortality that is slightly higher than the European norm. Anything that can be done to reduce these deaths is to be welcomed.
The cancer strategy was primarily concerned with the provision of services aimed at the early detection and treatment of the disease. In other words, it was targeted at those who had already contracted the disease. It did not deal with the much wider, and potentially more fruitful, area of the prevention of cancer in the first place. But, insofar as it tackled the early detection and the treatment modalities that should be available, it appears to be well on the way to achieving its far-from-insignificant target. That there is currently a controversy on the subject of the adequacy or otherwise of radiotherapy treatment facilities, is somewhat beside the point. There have always been quite legitimate differences of expert opinion on many aspects of cancer treatment and these will, no doubt, continue as treatments change and, for the most part, improve.
It is still good news that the strategy designed to bring detection and treatment services up to, or even above, European standards is on target. And it will, of course, be necessary that the levels of success in reducing cancer mortalities by 15 percent by 2004 be closely and critically monitored. Regional variations - for the strategy is to base services regionally on the eight health board areas as well as nationally - must be monitored, detected and remedied where deficiencies are found. Most people have become aware over the past decade that a diagnosis of cancer is no longer necessarily an imminent death sentence, and discussion of what used to be known popularly as "the Big C" is no longer taboo in Irish society. The least that a "tiger" economy can provide for its citizens is the best possible treatment services for cancer, which still causes one quarter of all deaths in the State.
But there is still a great deal of work to be done in providing effective preventive measures, through legislation for environmental controls over carcinogens, whether in the air, the water, the diet or the smoke, and through public education programmes which, so far, have not proved as effective as they should be in reducing the incidence of cancer in Ireland. Perhaps Mr Cowen, the current Minister for Health, could produce the initiative that would spearhead the required, multi-targeted and effective measures that will prevent cancer and thus reduce the current need for more and better detection and treatment services.