The American Cancer Society is recruiting area residents to participate in the 30-year Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) which will include at least 300,000 participants nationwide.
“We’re looking at environmental factors, lifestyle factors and genetic factors that may impact the rate of cancer incidence on a participant as they live their life,” said executive director of the American Cancer Society’s Florida Division Darla Betzer. “It’s definitely a pioneering opportunity for us to look at the unknown and see rally what are some factors that maybe we all haven’t taken into consideration and maybe there are some things that we can do more of on the preventative side in terms of our lifestyle in addition to just the health and the wellness and nutrition that we try to do on a daily basis.”
The only qualifications are that participants must be between the ages of 30 and 65 and have never had cancer before. The American Cancer Society is asking those interested to register online, take the initial survey and sign up for their enrollment session March 24 at the Assembly of God Church at 4701 Summerlin Road in Fort Myers. At the session, participants will have body measurements and a blood sample taken.
“And then what we do is every two to three years we will send you an e-mail follow-up survey and that’s all that’s required of you going forward,” said Betzer. “And all it will do is be asking you that same set of questions again to see if anything has changed.”
The first phase of this study linked smoking to lung cancer back in the 1950s and later surveys have documented the link between cancer and obesity, physical activity, diet, hormone use and air pollution.
Betzer says it’s a personal battle for many who remain committed to the study. “We find a lot of our caregivers, those who actually had to care for someone who has either fought their battle or ultimately lost their battle, that this is a rallying cry for them and they really feel that this is a way that they can fight back and do something about it and ensure that this doesn’t impact anybody else and that nobody else loses a loved one.”
For more information or to sign up, visit www.cancer.org/cps3florida.
