Signups for cancer study will be held during Relay for Life

During the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, noon to 4 p.m. May 17 at Arena Park, individuals will have the chance to sign up as volunteers for Cancer Prevention Study-3.

Cape Girardeau Relay for Life is one of more than 110 enrollment sites scheduled for 2008. It is the first time in more than 50 years of these kinds of studies that participants may complete their baseline and follow-up questionnaires online.

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Americans to participate in lifesaving cancer research," said Dr. Eugenia E. Calle, American Cancer Society director of analytic epidemiology, who is overseeing the study.

"While we have been conducting these types of studies for decades, our world-class research department can only study new and emerging cancer risks if members of the community are willing to become involved."

The data from this study will be used to build on evidence from a series of American Cancer Society studies that began in the 1950s involving hundreds of thousands of volunteer participants. The Hammond-Horn Study and previous cancer prevention studies (CPS-I, CPS-II) have played a major role in understanding cancer prevention and risk, contributing significantly to the scientific literature and development of public health guidelines and recommendations. Those studies confirmed the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, showed that obesity increases the risk of several cancers and linked aspirin use to a lower death rate from colon cancer.

The American Cancer Society Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research is inviting men and women between 30 and 65 years of age who have no personal history of cancer to join the study. The ultimate goal is to enroll 500,000 adults from various racial/ethnic backgrounds from across the U.S.

The purpose of CPS-3 is to better understand the lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer and to ultimately eliminate cancer as a major health problem.

For more information or to learn how to participate, visit www.cancer.org/cps3, e-mail cps3@cancer.org or call 888-227-2345.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133