cilities and clubs. Some people assume greater responsibility for safeguarding their own health than others: women typically take more care than men; teenagers have a greater tendency to regard themselves as invulnerable. These differences raise important questions about how and where prevention policies should be focused.
The media has an important role to play in: ■■ Raising awareness among all sections of the population about the consequences of exposure to avoidable risk factors, and about how people can protect themselves. ■■ Exploring attitudes to, and the challenges of, adopting healthier lifestyles among all sections of the population. ■■ Taking a critical look at prevention policies – who is benefiting, who is missing out? ■■ Promoting informed debate about the appropriate use of regulation, taxation, education and investment to promote healthy lifestyles.
Vested interests: resisting the spin The importance of the media as a source of credible, accurate and understandable information is all the greater given the huge investment made by ‘cancer causing’ industries (including
those involved in tobacco, fast-food and alcohol), not just in advertising to individual consumers but also in trying to muddy the public debate and influence policy making – often in clandestine ways that only ever come to light thanks to investigative journalism. The nutrition and health supplements industry are another vested interest that often try to market themselves on their impact on preventing cancer. But while strong claims have been made, for instance, for the preventive effect of anti-oxidants or vitamins C or E, research has not found good evidence of such an effect and some studies have found they may in fact increase the risk of certain cancers. “Don’t use supplements to protect against cancer,” is the specific advice of the World Cancer Research Fund (www. wcrf-uk.org) in its “10 ways to prevent cancer”. So when the Daily Express runs the headline “Wonder pills pack all the goodness you need” (1 July 2011) they are seriously misleading their readers.
The growing influence of public relations (PR) ‘spin’ in promoting misleading or exaggerated information from these industries is something that journalists need to guard against.
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Getting a comment from an independent expert is always the gold-standard, but may not always be possible due to time constraints. However, all journalists should be able to avoid misleading their audience if they : ■■ Keep their ‘spin sensors’ alert ■■ Treat relative risk figures – eg “double” or“half” – with suspicion (see page 23) ■■ Use the Behind the Headlines credibility checklist (page 27). If the story is not credible, you may still have to write it, but you can flag up to your audience why there is room for scepticism.
Targeted prevention Growing knowledge about genetic susceptibility to cancer is opening up new possibilities for tailoring prevention strategies for those believed to be at particularly high risk. However, it also presents individuals with the challenge of how to deal with the new-found knowledge that a heightened risk of cancer may run in their family. The ability to identify people at high risk also raises policy issues about whether greater priority should be given to researching and testing interventions that could lower the risk of developing cancer in the same way that statins, for