Cancer & Bowel Research Trust will be conducting our annual awareness week from Monday 1st December through to Friday 5th December 2008. We will be in the following locations providing awareness information via our distribution set-ups at the following dates:

1/12/2008: Westfield Chatswood NSW, Flinders St Station VIC.

2/12/2008: Westfield Parramatta NSW, Pitt St Mall NSW, Bourke St Mall VIC,
Westfield Chermside QLD, Adelaide Railway SA.

3/12/2008: Westfield West Lakes SA, Sydney Ferries Circular Quay NSW,
Smith St Mall NT.

4/12/2008: Queen Victoria Building NSW, Southland VIC, Centro Toombul QLD,
Rundle Mall SA, Civic Centre ACT.

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The report, published by the International Journal of Cancer, says that drinking two large glasses of wine or two pints a day increases the risk of this disease by around quarter compared with non-drinkers.

One glass of wine or a pint of beer a day raises the risk by 10 per cent.

"The research shows quite clearly that the more alcohol you drink the greater your risk of bowel cancer,'' said Professor Tim Key, an expert with Cancer Research UK told the Daily Telegraph.

The study was based on questioning of 478,000 people in 10 European countries over six years, of whom over 1800 developed bowel cancer, which is the third most common form of the disease after lung and breast cancer.

Each year 35,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer and it kills 16,100 a year, the British newspaper reported.

The findings will raise question marks for those following widespread scientific advice that regular but modest consumption of red wine can help protect against heart attacks.

"The increase in risk is not large but it is important that people understand they can reduce their risk of a number of different cancers - including bowel cancer - by cutting down on alcohol,'' said Prof Key..

Dr Kenneth Kinzler will tell an Australian cancer conference this week of his revolutionary findings, which will lead to personal, tailor-made methods of treating the disease.

Dr Kinzler, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has identified the genetic make-up of tumours, which he believes will help to stop the spread of cancer and save lives.

The three-day conference, starting on Friday, will also be told of a groundbreaking treatment for melanoma - the most deadly form of skin cancer - being tested in Australia.

Director of the Sydney Melanoma Unit, Prof John Thompson, said the treatment's aim was to stop the spread of melanoma to other parts of the body.

Australia has the highest rate of melanoma in the world, with 9500 cases diagnosed each year.

If left untreated, cancer cells spread rapidly to other parts of the body and form secondary cancers.

It can be treated most effectively in its early stages, when it is still confined to the outer layer of the skin.

Prof Thompson conducted a clinical trial on 20 patients who had secondary inoperable melanomas.

Individual tumours were injected with a red dye called rose bengal.

In about 80 per cent of cases, the tumours died, and within 14 days they simply dropped off the skin.

"In most cases it killed the tumour cells, but it had no serious effect on the surrounding tissue, which is the remarkable thing," Prof Thompson said.

This shows rose bengal could also be effective in treating tumours within the body, he said.

He emphasised this was not a cure for melanoma and worked only in a small number of melanoma patients.

"It's an interesting and exciting development, but its application at the moment is limited. Its potential, however, is quite large," Prof Thompson said.

Chair of the Sydney Cancer Conference, Prof Richard Christopherson, said this week's event was an exciting opportunity for scientists to collaborate with clinicians.

He said Prof Kinzler's research findings were a "major shock" to cancer doctors.

"It just shows that cancer is a very complex problem and in five to 10 years we will be sequencing a tailor-made, personalised cure."

BOWEL cancer patients will soon be able to get a test that predicts how well they will respond to the latest drug therapies following a genetic breakthrough involving Australian oncologists.

An international cancer trial has identified a type of gene that has become the first marker of bowel cancer, a disease that kills about 90 Australians every week.

Researchers discovered that those diagnosed with advanced disease who have the "normal" form of the gene - about two-thirds of sufferers - could benefit significantly from using one of the newest anti-cancer drugs, Erbitux, with standard chemotherapy.

The other third whose tumours contained the mutant form of the gene had no benefit from adding the new drug.

The find will allow a genetic test to show who could be helped from having the expensive therapy, which is not yet listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

"This is a big step forward in personalised medicine which is targeted to suit an individual person's disease," said Dr Niall Tebbutt, medical oncologist from the Austin Hospital in Melbourne and Australian investigator in the study.

"It's better for patients because they don't get treatments that don't work, and the Government will like it too because it makes this costly drug more cost effective."

Advanced bowel cancer cannot be cured with current treatments, but new targeted therapies entering the market are lengthening survival and improving quality of life.

Erbitux works by locking onto a specific growth protein in the tumour and switching off overactive chemical signals in cancer cells so they do not receive instructions to grow or spread.

The drug is available in Australia for use when other therapies have failed but it is not yet subsidised, keeping it out of reach for most.

Australian oncologists say that the test for the gene is available now but is of "limited benefit" until the drug is awarded a subsidy, the chances of which are boosted on the back of the new results, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.

The trial, which involved 587 people, including patients at six Australian centres, found those with the normal form of the gene had a 32% lower risk of disease progression when they added the new biological drug to their treatment.

Four alcoholic drinks per day increases man's risk of developing bowel cancer by 64 per cent, a report by the Cancer Institute NSW says. For women, just two standard drinks per day increases their risk of developing breast cancer by up to 22 per cent. For both men and women, two standard drinks a day increases the risk of developing mouth cancer by 75 per cent.

A worldwide analysis of cancer studies suggests that there are no safe levels of alcohol consumption. Even drinking moderate amounts of alcohol daily can significantly increase the risks of developing certain cancer such as breast, bowel, throat and mouth cancer, a new study has found.

Institute chief Jim Bishop said the risk depended on the amount of alcohol consumed. "The risk is quite low at low levels of alcohol intake, but as the alcohol goes up on average per day the risk will increase" he said. Mr. Bishop said that although red wine was helpful for cardiac disease, there was no benefit of alcohol when it came to cancer.

He said the evidence now for cancer was that there was no known lower limit when it came to cancer. The report, Alcohol As A Cause Of Cancer, came about in a bid to explain the increasing levels of cancer in society.

Mr. Bishop said about a third of all cancers were preventable and cutting down on alcohol must be part of any cancer-prevention strategy.

Up to 2.5 million people will be issued with do-it-yourself bowel cancer tests under an extension of a screening program to be funded in the federal Budget. Health Minister Nicola Roxon yesterday said an $87.2 million investment would enable the bowel cancer screening program to be extended to 50-year-olds. Ms Roxon said the initiative is a crucial step in the fight against bowel cancer, which affects 13,000 Australians each year and kills 4000. The home-screening kits, which will be sent out to all 50, 55 and 60-year-olds, might save up to 2000 people a year. The tests will then be sent back to pathology labs, and results passed on through GPs. "We know that screening is successful. We know that this can save lives," Ms Roxon said.

A clear, direct link between obesity and colorectal cancer, the second most common form of cancer in Australia with more than 12,000 new cases each year, has been shown in a new analysis by The George Institute for International Health in Sydney, Australia.

Scientists from Ohio State University have discovered that fruit and vegetables that are a dark red, blue or purple colour are extremely effective in the treatment of colon cancers. The pigments causing the deep colours are from a special class of antioxidants called anthocyanins that travel almost unhindered through the digestive tract. They then can either stop the growth, or in some cases kill, colon cancer cells. Healthy cells are unaffected.

The most effective anthocyanin comes from purple corn, chokeberries and bilberries, although the compounds are also found in foods such as aubergines, red cabbage and radishes.

Cancer & Bowel Research Trust will be conducting our annual awareness week from Monday 3rd through to Friday 7th December 2007. We will be in the following cities providing awareness information via our Marquee set up at the following locations:

Sydney: Pitt Street Mall, Monday 3rd.
Adelaide: Rundle Mall, Tuesday 4th & Wednesday 5th.
Melbourne: Bourke Street Mall, Thursday 6th & Friday 7th.

Carman's Fine Foods have become our inaugural major sponsor in our corporate partnership program and in honour of this one of our residences is now named Carman's House.

Cancer & Bowel Research Trust is proud to advise that a delightful and modern house in Dulwich will be available for patients and their families to stay at during and after oncology treatment for the purpose of recovery and relaxation. Tranquillity House has 3 bedrooms, dining, open-living, kitchen, 2 bathrooms and beautiful gardens. It will be opened in September 2008.

The Cancer & Bowel Research Trust seeks advice from its Honorary Advisory Panel with regard to priority and validity on considerations in funding of particular research projects, equipment purchases, patient accomodation and the ongoing direction of our Awareness & Prevention Campaigns.

Cancer & Bowel Research Trust in a joint initiative with our affliate Kids Cancer Research Trust is proud to announce that a brand new purpose built apartment will be available for patients and their families to stay at during oncology treatment for the purpose of recovery and relaxation. Western Star Retreat has 2 bedrooms, dining, open-living, kitchen, 2 bathrooms and private courtyard. It will be opened in August 2007.

Cancer & Bowel Research Trust has new cancer patient accomodation available in Melbourne named Park View for patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

It is located in close proximity to Royal Melbourne, Royal Womens, Royal Children's and St.Vincents Hospitals.

We are also proud to make available four more residences, including: City View and Heart of the City in Adelaide, Southern Cross Lodge in Hawthorn and Northern Star Retreat in Salisbury Park.

Bowel Cancer Awareness Week was from Friday 1 December to Friday 8 December 2006. The annual tennis day at Next Generation, Memorial Drive was held on Thursday 30 November starting at 3:00pm. There was our Birk St Mall pavilion in Melbourne on Friday 1 December and Friday 8 December giving out bowel cancer prevention brochures and providing information. On Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th December we increased prevention and awareness through our stall on Rundle Mall in Adelaide. The week culminated in our annual golf day at The Grange Golf Club in West Lakes with a shotgun start at 12:00pm with dinner and presentation on completion.

The annual tennis day was held at the Next Generation, Memorial Drive, consisting of 32 players in our round robin format. Celebrities were present as our ambassadors and this year was a tremendous success with all persons wearing our orange "embarrassment can kill" polo shirts and wristbands.

Our major sponsor was Comminsure with our supporting sponsors being Murphy Financial Solutions and 4Life.

The winning team was Darren Furst, Steve Russo, Brad Green (Murphy Financial Solutions) and Neil Menzies. Thankyou to all that came to support this annual event

The annual golf day was played at the East Course at Grange Golf Club in hot conditions on Friday 8 December.

The scores were very competitive and the winning team was GE Money (James Drake, Paul Arthur, Greg Harford and Colin Priest) with a nett 51.9.

Special guest Darren Cahill, former coach of Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi, played in the Legends team and was kind enough to entertain the participants with an interview after the presentations. We appreciate all persons that were involved with this fun and successful day.

MORE than one million Australians will receive a bowel cancer testing kit as part of a $43 million national screening program designed to tackle one of the country's biggest killers.

Every Australian turning 55 or 65 years of age between May 2006 and June 2008 would be sent a kit, Health Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday. Bowel cancer killed almost 100 people a week, he said, but could be successfully treated if detected in its early stages. Mr Abbott said test kits would be posted out in NSW from Monday.

A "SMART" pill could halve the time bowel cancer patients are spending in hospital and make inroads into waiting lists, new research shows. The medication Xeloda -- available in Australia -- taken with other chemotherapy medications works as well as conventional intravenous treatments.
Xeloda only works once it has reached the tumour and experts predict it could cut down on time spent at hospitals.

Don't panic. You can protect yourself and your family from cancer, by making simple changes to your lifestyle.

The fear of the Big C strikes terror into all of us. Not surprising, when one in three men and one in four women will be directly affected by cancer before the age of 75. While researchers still don't know all the factors that contribute to the disease, they do know that, while it may never be 100 per cent avoidable, there are many things you can do to lower the risk.

Embarrassment is stopping Australians being treated for bowel cancer, one of the nation's biggest killers.

The Cancer & Bowel Research Trust has announced its project funding for projects commencing 2006, continuing its strong focus on awareness and prevention campaigns for the second consecutive year increasing commitments to direct support services.

Provision of $50,000 has been made to contribute to the establishment of the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, building of which is expected to commence in late 2007.

Funding of $480,000 into awareness, prevention & early detection campaigns has been allocated for 2006. This campaign is conducted nationally focusing on Bowel Cancer.

Of the externally conducted programs the University of Melbourne was successful for its project "Effect of expression levels of the C-Met oncogene on the dissemination and metastasis of colonic cancer cells" as well as Queensland University for its "Breast Cancer Exercise Trial".

Application for the purchase of iQ5 real-time PCR detection system ($53,000) for the IMVS was also successful.

A 28 year old male from Tweed Heads has volunteered to be the first person in Australia to have a bowel transplant at Melbourne's Austin Hospital. If successful, this could prove to be a huge step for the Australian medical industry.

The Australian government is now giving thousands more individuals a second chance by making a new chemotherapy treatment available through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from October 1, 2005. Through trials, it has shown that this chemotherapy treatment can stop cancer from spreading throughout the body.