By Martha Moss - 30th September 2009
Tennis champion Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario has added her voice to calls for European women to do more exercise to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Sánchez-Vicario was among the speakers at the launch of the 2009 Europa Donna breast health day in Brussels on Wednesday.
Now in its second year, breast health day will take place on 15 October, and aims to raise awareness of how lifestyle choices can influence breast health and reduce cancer risk.
It comes after the launch of the European partnership for action against cancer, which aims to integrate cancer plans across member states.
Sánchez-Vicario told TheParliament.com, "You don't need to be a champion to do sport.
"Everybody has a very busy lifestyle and it's sometimes difficult to find the time to run, walk or go to the gym."
She stressed the need to increase information about reducing risk, and said she would ensure her daughter is physically active from a young age.
"The more young people talk about these things, the more information they get, the more we can reduce risk," she said.
Inactivity causes between 10 and 16 per cent of the 430,000 breast cancer cases diagnosed in Europe each year.
And Susan Knox, the executive director of Europa Donna, pointed to evidence showing that 30 to 60 minutes of exercise per day is enough to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
"It's time for everyone to get involved and get active for breast health," she said.
"So few know that there are ways to prevent this disease and something as simple as 30-60 minutes a day can help reduce the risk."
Knox told this website that parliament "can be extremely instrumental in ensuring that information and guidelines reaches the countries they represent".
"That would be with regard both to health campaigns like breast health day, but also in terms of the implementation of the European guidelines on screening and diagnosis," she said.
Europa Donna was particularly focused in getting support from newly-elected MEPs and those who had previously been involved in breast cancer issues, she said.
Speaking of the 'e-card' - which users can send to friends to raise awareness of the link between inactivity and breast cancer - she said the internet was a key tool which must be harnessed to reach women of all ages with a personal message in various locations around the world.
"You need the message to be in all these places where the ordinary human being is going to read things that are understandable and not too complex," she said.
Peter Boyle, the president of the international prevention research institute, pointed to a study in France in 2000 which showed that 10.1 per cent of all breast cancer cases could be attributed to physical inactivity, compared to 4.8 per cent attributable to overweight and obesity
As well as physical inactivity, other risk factors included higher pregnancy age, alcohol consumption, oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy, he said.
Karl Freese, the principal administrator at the commission's health and consumers directorate (DG Sanco), has been involved with Europa Donna for more than 10 years.
He set out the priorities of the European partnership for action against cancer, which will focus on promoting health and early detection, identification and dissemination of good practices in healthcare, priorities for research and health information and data.
Screening could reduce cervical cancer rates by 80 per cent and breast cancer screening could reduce mortality by 40 per cent, he said.
He pointed to a 2007 a follow-up report to the 2003 council recommendations for cancer screening which said the EU was halfway to meeting the annual number of recommended screening examinations (125 million per year).
"The commission has made cancer a high priority," he said. "We want to support member states in their efforts to tackle cancer."
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