By Martin Banks - 2nd March 2011
Screening can help save lives
Reinhold Stockbrugger
Member states have been condemned for failing to implement EU legislation designed to combat colorectal cancer.
A news conference in parliament heard that only a minority of countries have implemented national screening programmes as required by a 2003 EU directive.
Reinhold Stockbrugger, of the European Gastroenterology Federation, said only seven member states had a "sufficient or very good" screening programme.
The worst offenders, he said, were central and eastern European countries which joined the EU in 2004 who still had not implemented the directive.
In those countries which had complied with the EU law - including France, Italy, Denmark, the UK and Germany - the incidence of deaths caused by colorectal cancer had fallen, he said.
Countries yet to introduce screening programmes include Belgium, Ireland, Estonia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and Latvia.
"The message is clear: screening can help save lives," Stockbrugger said.
The Italy-based academic said that current disparities between member states represented an "inequality" in treatment for people with colorectal cancer.
The news conference came after a parliament roundtable debate on colorectal cancer.
His comments were echoed by Czech MEP Pavel Poc who said that "huge" number of people were dying "unnecessarily" each year from the disease.
Poc, a member of the environment, public health and food safety committee, said, "Screening programmes were introduced 30 years ago in some member states but some are lagging behind and have yet to introduce one.
"This is a type of cancer that can be successfully treated - it is preventable - but early diagnosis is crucial and that is where screening programmes can be so useful.
"The problem is that I do not think the political will for this exists in some member states.
"This is where the EU comes in. It must put pressure on member states to act."
He called for an EU-wide awareness campaign to draw attention to the importance of screening in tackling colorectal cancer.
"We also need more funding for research into this type of cancer and more focus on lifestyles in order to help tackle it," he said.
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