REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE CANCER 2006 CONFERENCE ROYAL HOSPITAL KILMAINHAM
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE CANCER 2006 CONFERENCE ROYAL HOSPITAL KILMAINHAM FRIDAY, 5TH MAY, 2006
Tá gliondar orm bheith anseo libh inniu ag an ócáid speisialta seo. Tá mé buíoch díbh as an gcuireadh agus as an bhfáilte fhíorchaoin a chur sibh romham.
Good Morning,
It is good to be with you at the Cancer 2006 Conference and I thank Chairperson of St. James’s Hospital Cancer Strategy Group, Prof. Mark Lawler and Ms. Hilary Craig of the Health Service Executive Regional Oncology Programme Office for the kind invitation to be here.
May I offer the traditional céad míle fáilte to all the delegates and to each one of the many speakers who will address the conference and a special welcome to all those who have travelled from overseas to be with us. Each one of you has come because of this emotive and powerful word “cancer” and out of a determination to reduce its power, to diminish its baleful effects on humanity.
As you drove or ambled through the streets to this conference, one in three of the people you saw on the way will suffer some form of cancer in their lives. It is a diagnosis that is universally feared. It is one of the least comforting of words and one of the most challenging. So often we hear words like fighting cancer, battling cancer, words that characterise the disease as an enemy – an understandable characterisation when we see the how it can so quickly overwhelm a life. Good war tacticians have always been aware of the importance of knowing your enemy, understanding his ways, predicting his moves. Cancer is not an easy enemy to get to know for its ways are so often a complex mix of genetic, environmental, lifestyle and random factors. But get to know it intimately we must if we are to find effective treatments for the management and cure of all forms of the disease. That is why research is so important, as are collaborative partnerships which harness and disseminate all the available information. The theme of this conference - Combating Cancer through Research and Partnership - precisely captures the multi-faceted, interdisciplinary path which real progress requires.
It is heartening that, over the years, there have been significant advances in the diagnosis, cure and care of a range of cancers. We now have a vastly improved understanding of many factors contributing to the initiation and development of the disease and we regularly receive warnings about lifestyle choices within our control which can limit our vulnerability to certain cancers.
The role of credible independent research is self-evident and it has brought hope through information and insight. Science has chalked up many successes in the field of cancer cure and prevention but perhaps one of its most obvious success stories has been in the introduction of the ban on smoking in the workplace, a milestone in cancer prevention policy in Ireland. Tobacco consumption is still the single most important cause of illness and death in this country and a major causative factor in most incidences of lung cancer. Since the introduction of the ban almost three years ago the Irish public have shown an overwhelming acceptance of it and that is very good news for we know that effective cancer prevention and early detection is only possible with the public as active partners. If we do not make progress in developing that partnership, and making responsibility for cancer prevention both a personal and a civic responsibility, we will continue to pay for the pollution of our air, water and food, with an overwhelming and distressing level of cancer.
Collaboration and partnership give reassurance to the public that vital information about cancer is being sourced from the widest range of stakeholders and that nothing of worth is being lost or wasted through poor communication channels or institutional or professional barriers. This evolving network is key to tomorrow’s response to cancer and this conference is yet another opportunity for those who hold their own unique piece of the jigsaw puzzle to share it here in the hope that in this audience there is a matching piece or a signpost as to where it might be found.
Moving basic scientific research discoveries into clinical practice, as well as into civic lifestyles, presents considerable challenges. There is a hunger and even an impatience for new diagnostics, and new therapies, which puts science under pressure. There are financial and regulatory realities which shape progress too. These sometimes limiting factors make it essential that information flows easily and fluently across, not just professional boundaries, but across geographic boundaries, especially those which share similar cancer problems and profiles.
An example of successful international collaboration in relation to cancer is the National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium, founded on foot of the Good Friday Agreement. It is a trilateral partnership involving the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health and Children here in Dublin, and the National Cancer Institute in the U.S.A. I am glad to welcome Dr. Joe Harford and his colleagues from the NCI to this conference and to acknowledge the significance of their information sharing as a tool which is improving cancer treatment planning.
Because of your work, our world is already a better and a more hope-filled place. You have triumphed over certain types of cancer and are dedicated to taking the deadliness out of this disease. You would not have come here if you were not willing to share and willing to listen. I thank you for the generosity it takes to share and humility it takes to listen and to learn from others. The debate generated by the many highly respected national and international speakers who are participating in this conference will add immensely to our increased understanding of cancer. I have no doubt that it will lead to earlier disease detection, increased potential for cancer prevention and significant developments in cancer therapeutics.
I hope when you leave Dublin it will be with many happy memories, many intriguing and energising insights, with a strong sense of purpose and recommitment to your vocations. The work of the organisers could have no greater vindication, and the public which relies on you so much, and who put so much trust in your endeavours, could have no greater reassurance.
Go raibh maith agaibh.