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Thursday, 25 November 2010 - Strasbourg
Fighting colorectal cancer in the European Union
P7_TA(2010)0451P7_DCL(2010)0068

Declaration of the European Parliament of 25 November 2010 on fighting colorectal cancer in the European Union

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Rule 123 of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas in the EU there are over 400 000 new cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) and 200 000 deaths from it per annum, CRC being the second most frequent cause of death from cancer,

B.  whereas CRC is associated with lifestyle factors (obesity, lack of exercise, alcohol consumption and smoking) and tackling these factors will decrease CRC development,

C.  whereas screening in some EU countries has already lowered CRC mortality, while in others screening activities have not been initiated,

D.  whereas early detection of CRC will not only lead to a reduction in the 40% mortality rate, but will also significantly reduce treatment costs,

E.  whereas, according to the Commission, the fight against CRC should be a priority in public health, as death from CRC is preventable with the medical tools available in the EU,

1.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States:

   to support awareness campaigns in the EU on lifestyle factors which cause CRC, aimed particularly at teenagers and young adults,
   to encourage implementation of CRC screening best practice in all EU countries and to publish progress reports every two years,
   to make dissemination of CRC screening-related research and knowledge a priority in upcoming work programmes of Research Framework Programme 7 and the EU Health Programme,
   to introduce nationwide CRC screening, in accordance with EU guidelines;

2.  Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories(1), to the Council, the Commission and the parliaments of the Member States.

(1) The list of signatories is published in Annex 1 to the Minutes of 25 November 2010 (P7_PV(2010)11-25(ANN1)).

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