Oral Cancer News – Page 192 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Cigarette ads, packages must include oral cancer warnings, says FDA

Source: http://www.healthcanal.com/ Author: Craig Palmer, ADA News staff The Food and Drug Administration will require use of a “cancerous lesion on lip” image in cigarette advertising and packaging for its potential to motivate positive behavioral change, influence youth and young adults in particular and inform the public that cigarettes cause oral cancer. Flexing its regulatory muscle on the second anniversary of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was signed into law June 22, 2009, the FDA unveiled nine graphic health warnings to be placed on all cigarette packs, cartons and ads no later than Sept. 22, 2012. “The nine new health warning statements and the accompanying graphic images selected by FDA convey information that is factual and uncontroversial,” the agency said in the regulatory notice. The FDA simultaneously announced a public inquiry and request for comments on the public health impact of modified risk tobacco products sold or distributed for use to reduce harm or the risk of tobacco-related disease associated with commercially marketed tobacco products. The FDA scheduled a public forum Aug. 25-26 to obtain information on “the scientific issues associated with assessment and ongoing review of MRTPs.” These include smokeless and other products promoted as alternatives to cigarette smoking. The Association supported the 2009 tobacco control law, and has advised the FDA on using the law to shape public tobacco policy. “Dentists are the first line of defense in the war against oral cancer and many other tobacco-related diseases,” the Association told the FDA in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-25T08:30:12-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Cannabis use and oral diseases

Source: Nature.com Questions: What is the effect of cannabis usage on the oral environment? Data sources Medline and the Cochrane Central register of controlled trails (CENTRAL). Study selection Randomised Controlled Trials, Controlled Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies conducted on humans investigating cannabis usage were included. Screening was performed independently by two reviewers. Only English language studies were included. Case reports, letters and historical reviews were excluded. Data extraction and synthesis A narrative synthesis was conducted. Results Seven studies were included and a range of cannabis-associated oral side effects identified. Conclusions Based on the limited data, it seems justified to conclude that with increasing prevalence of cannabis use, oral health care providers should be aware of cannabis-associated oral side effects such as xerostomia, leukoedema and an increased prevalence and density of Candida albicans. This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and vetted for appropriateness and accuracy.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-24T11:50:07-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

$1 Million Donated for Head and Neck Cancer Research at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

Source: Ohio State University- James Cancer Center COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two siblings are honoring their deceased parents by pledging $1 million to create an endowed chair in head and neck cancer research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC– James). Ron Alford of Westerville, Ohio, along with his sister Barb Cantlin and her husband Mike of Newark, Ohio, have pledged the additional funding over the next four years. Their $1 million pledge adds to the original $500,000 donation made by John Alford to create the first research endowment at The James shortly after the free-standing cancer hospital opened in July 1990. After his wife died of stomach cancer in 1987, John Alford chose to honor her memory by creating the Mary E. Alford Cancer Research Endowment Fund for cancer research at The James. When John Alford died of esophageal cancer in 1996, his children donated an additional $500,000 to create the Mary E. and John W. Alford Cancer Research Endowment Fund at The James. With the latest gift pledge, once the fund reaches $2 million it will be renamed the Mary E. and John W. Alford Research Chair in Head and Neck Cancer. “The level of support shown by the Alford family through the years to The James is a testament to their lifelong mission of trying to improve and enhance the lives of others,” says Dr. Michael Caligiuri, director of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-24T08:59:43-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Can HPV Vaccine Prevent Oral Cancer?

Source: WebMD.com June 23, 2011 -- Can HPV vaccines stop the explosive rise of HPV-related head and neck cancer? HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines protect against the sexually transmitted strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer. The same HPV strains -- spread by kissing and by oral sex -- cause oropharyngeal (OP) cancer, the form of head and neck cancer that affects the back and sides of the throat, the base of the tongue, and the tonsils. There's strong evidence that HPV vaccines prevent cervical cancer. There's no direct proof that these vaccines prevent throat cancer, but the rapid rise in cases among young people has some experts wanting to vaccinate first and get proof later. "We don't need to wait until all these molecular events are understood," Dong Moon Shin, MD, of Emory University's Winship Cancer Center, tells WebMD. "The time is now. For the HPV vaccine, cost is the only issue as side effects are minimal. Routine HPV vaccination has to be implemented very soon, for both boys and girls." In the U.S., that recommendation is made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The ACIP now recommends routine HPV vaccination only for girls and young women in order to prevent cervical cancer. It permits vaccination of boys who want protection against HPV-caused genital warts. For two years, the ACIP has been mulling whether to recommend the HPV vaccine for boys. This would help prevent cervical cancer in unvaccinated women. It also would prevent HPV-related anal cancer and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-24T08:50:47-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Global Rise in Cancer Cost $300 Billion in 2010, Harvard Economist Says During Press Briefing Hosted by the American Cancer Society and the United Nations

23 June 2011 United Nations — Newly diagnosed cancer cases cost the global economy $300 billion in 2010, as illnesses once believed to be largely confined to wealthier countries took hold in developing nations, a Harvard University economist said during a press briefing hosted by the American Cancer Society Global Health Programs and the United Nations Department of Public Information. Tobacco use, alcohol intake, obesity and decreased physical activity have grown in poorer countries, causing the rise of cancer and diabetes, said David E. Bloom, professor of economics and demography at Harvard’s School of Public Health in Boston. Bloom and other researchers held a briefing today in advance of the United Nations High Level Meeting on noncommunicable diseases. The Sept. 19-20 meeting will be the first gathering of the UN Assembly dealing with cancer, cardiovascular illness, chronic lung conditions and diabetes. These diseases cause 60 percent of deaths worldwide, killing 36.1 million people annually, according to an April report by the World Health Organization. “Noncommunicable diseases will evolve into a staggering economic burden in the coming years,” Bloom said. “It’s a huge impediment to the mitigation of poverty.” Bloom said treating newly diagnosed cancer cases cost $300 billion globally in 2010, and obstructive pulmonary disease -- often correlated with smoking tobacco -- costs $4 billion a year. Not Confined to Health “Economic policy makers like ministers of finance and ministers of planning see noncommunicable diseases as an issue confined to the health sector,” a misperception that needs to be addressed, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-24T08:42:35-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Michael Douglas Continues to Put Oral Cancer in the Spotlight

Source: Dr.Biscupid.com Actor Michael Douglas' recent revelation that he had stage IV oropharyngeal cancer has highlighted the growing incidence of oral cancer, and experts say dentists can help stem the alarming increase of the disease by checking for it during routine examinations. The actor's cancer included a walnut-sized tumor at the base of his tongue, requiring radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. Douglas says his doctors told him he had an 80% survival rate if it hadn't spread to his lymph nodes. While tobacco was the prime cause of oral cancer in the past, recent studies have attributed the steady increase of the disease to the human papillomavirus (HPV16). There are approximately 130 versions of HPV but only nine cause cancers, and the HPV16 version causes almost half of the oral cancers in the U.S., said Brian Hill, executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation. "Tobacco is no longer the only bad guy," he told DrBicuspid.com. “HPV16 is increasing in incidence as the causative etiology, and if it continues on this trend line, it will replace tobacco as the primary cause of oral cancers." Dentists can play a key role in catching the disease in its early stages if they check for it during examinations, Hill pointed out. "But many dentists think it's such a rare disease that they don't bother to screen for it," he said. "Most Americans have never even heard of oral cancer, but it's not as rare or uncommon as people would like to think it is. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-23T20:17:05-07:00June, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Oral, Head and Neck Cancers Continue to Increase While Most U.S. Cancer Death Rates are on the Decline

Source: SHOTS (NPR's Health Blog) The rate at which Americans die from cancer continues to fall, according to the latest estimates from the American Cancer Society. As a result, nearly 900,000 cancer deaths were avoided between 1990 and 2007, the group figures. Survival gains have come as mortality rates have declined for some of the most common malignancies, including colorectal cancer, breast cancer in women and prostate cancer. Still, the ACS estimates there will nearly 1.6 million new cancers diagnosed this year, and about 572,000 deaths from the disease. The incidence of cancers hasn't budged much for men in recent years, after falling quite a bit during the first half of the last decade. Cancer incidence for women has been falling since 1998. The report was just published online by CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Lung cancer remains the biggest killer for both men and women. All told, about 160,000 people in the U.S. are expected to die from it this year. Starting in 1987, more women have died from lung cancer each year than breast cancer. One section of the report focuses on a persistent and, in some cases, widening gap in cancer death rates between people with the least education and those with the most. Educational attainment is often used in research as a proxy for socioeconomic status. American Cancer Society epidemiologist Elizabeth Ward, one of the report's authors, tells Shots, "People of a lower socioeconomic status are more likely to smoke and less likely to get [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-22T10:26:11-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Scandinavia Snus Maker Plans to Push Product in the U.S.

Source: Convenience Store News STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- One of the largest snus makers in Scandinavia is looking to add to its dominance in the field by tackling the United States. In a move to capture part of the smokeless tobacco industry in America, Swedish Match AB is introducing two new versions of its General brand. The company is expanding its retail distribution this month, beginning in Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia, according to the Wall Street Journal. To date, Swedish Match has had a comparably smaller toehold in the United States then it has in Scandinavia. As the news outlet reported, snus make up about 2.5 percent of the smokeless tobacco sales in the United States. Leaders in the American market include R.J. Reynolds' Camel Snus and the Altria Group's Marlboro Snus and Skoal Snus. Swedish Match plans to emphasize to consumers that General is an authentic Swedish snus that has been made in Sweden for more than 150 years. The new Nordic Mint and Classic Blend varieties will sell at a slight premium to Camel Snus, the WSJ reported. "We think snus in the U.S. is going to be a big category," said Clark Darrah, vice president for next-generation products for Swedish Match's U.S. division. "Globally, this is the biggest opportunity that we have." Across the Atlantic, Swedish Match holds approximately 85 percent of the snus market in Sweden and approximately 70 percent in Norway, according to the report. And now it wants its piece of the U.S. pie. The [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-21T09:55:49-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

FDA issues graphic cigarette labels

Source: apnews.myway.com Author: Michael Felberbaum In the most significant change to U.S. cigarette packs in 25 years, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday released nine new warning labels that depict in graphic detail the negative health effects of tobacco use. Among the images to appear on cigarette packs are rotting and diseased teeth and gums and a man with a tracheotomy smoking. Also included among the labels are: the corpse of a smoker, diseased lungs, and a mother holding her baby with smoke swirling around them. They include phrases like "Smoking can kill you" and "Cigarettes cause cancer" and feature graphic images to convey the dangers of tobacco, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths in the U.S. a year. Each label includes a national quit smoking hotline number. The labels will take up the top half of a pack of cigarette packs. Warning labels also must appear in advertisements and constitute 20 percent of an ad. Cigarette makers have until the fall of 2012 to comply. Mandates to introduce new graphic warning labels were part of a law passed in 2009 that, for the first time, gave the federal government authority to regulate tobacco, including setting guidelines for marketing and labeling, banning certain products and limiting nicotine. The announcement follows reviews of scientific literature, public comments and results from an FDA-contracted study of 36 labels proposed last November. In recent years, more than 30 countries or jurisdictions have introduced labels similar to those being introduced by the FDA. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-21T04:52:43-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Early effect of the HPV vaccination programme on cervical abnormalities in Victoria, Australia: an ecological study

Source: The Lancet Summary: Background Australia introduced a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme with the quadrivalent HPV vaccine for all women aged 12—26 years between 2007 and 2009. We analysed trends in cervical abnormalities in women in Victoria, Australia, before and after introduction of the vaccination program. Methods With data from the Victorian Cervical Cytology Registry between 2003 and 2009, we compared the incidence of histopathologically defined high-grade cervical abnormalities (HGAs, lesions coded as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of grade 2 or worse or adenocarcinoma in situ; primary outcome) and low-grade cytological abnormalities (LGAs) in five age groups before (Jan 1, 2003, to March 31, 2007) and after (April 1, 2007, to Dec 31, 2009) the vaccination programme began. Binary comparisons between the two periods were done with Fisher's exact test. Poisson piecewise regression analysis was used to compare incident rate trends. Findings After the introduction of the vaccination programme, we recorded a decrease in the incidence of HGAs by 0·38% (95% CI 0·61—0·16) in girls younger than 18 years. This decrease was progressive and significantly different to the linear trend in incidence before introduction of the vaccination (incident rate ratio 1·14, 1·00—1·30, p=0·05). No similar temporal decline was recorded for LGAs or in older age groups. Interpretation This is the first report of a decrease in incidence of HGAs within 3 years after the implementation of a population-wide HPV vaccination programme. Linkage between vaccination and screening registers is needed to confirm that this ecological observation is attributable to vaccination and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-20T10:53:42-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|