Yesterday, on the occasion of World Cancer Day, Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, met leaders of the European Cancer Organisation, including its president, Prof Csaba Dégi, and its newly appointed CEO, Elisabetta Zanon, to discuss the state of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and what lies ahead.

During the meeting, the cancer community representatives presented a one-page fact sheet to the Commissioner highlighting many key achievements of the plan and why the plan should be continued and updated in the next EU financial period.

Among the many accomplishments of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan so far:

• World leading legislation in cancer prevention, including ambitious limits on air pollution; an update of the Council Recommendation on smoke- and aerosol-free environments; and fresh legal protections for European workers from a range of carcinogens, including asbestos, crylonitrile, nickel compounds, and benzene.
• Unprecedented efforts to eliminate HPV cancers. Spurred by Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, all EU countries are now politically committed to gender-neutral vaccination against the human papilloma virus (HPV) and the six types of cancers it causes: cervical, vaginal, vulval, penile, anal, and head & neck cancers.
• Expanded EU cancer screening to now include early detection strategies for lung, prostate, and gastric cancers.
• Growing national adoption of ‘The Right to Be Forgotten’[i] for cancer survivors. Nine countries now offer legal binding protection, and six countries follow non-binding guidelines. Just two countries provided such protection in 2019.
• More initiatives on the horizon, including: a new edition of the European Code Against Cancer; a review of tobacco legislation for a tobacco-free generation by 2040; a new EU network of comprehensive cancer centres; and much more.

The European cancer community is asking that Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan be updated to include strong linkage with any forthcoming cardiovascular health plan and reflect the many developments since it was first conceived in 2019, including:

ECO President Csaba Dégi said: ‘It is now undeniable: Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan is working. Just look at the many lifesaving initiatives it has already spawned. I am personally grateful to the new Health Commissioner for his generous support and collaboration. Together with Europe’s cancer community, there is so much more we can do to ensure EU citizens have the cancer care they all deserve.’

Source: European Cancer Organisation (ECO)