Vol. 571 No. 1
898 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on a situation where thousands of Irish men will die of prostate cancer while his Department awaits the results of a European study on screening, in view of the fact that his Department has blocked population based screening until the outcome of the European study and that approximately 520 men die of prostate cancer every year here. [20176/03]
There are approximately 7,800 deaths annually from cancer, of which approximately 540 are due to cancer of the prostate. I do not accept that my Department has blocked population screening until the outcome of the European study referred to by the Deputy. As the Deputy is aware, a new national cancer strategy is currently being developed by the National Cancer Forum in conjunction with my Department. As part of this work, a sub-group of the National Cancer Forum was established on generic screening. This multidisciplinary group has reviewed all issues relating to screening, including examining specific diseases such as prostate and colorectal cancer. As regards screening for prostate cancer in particular, the group recommended that there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend the introduction of a population based prostate screening programme in this country. The group recommended that this issue should be reassessed when the results are available from randomised trials currently being conducted. The group's recommendations will inform the development of the new national cancer strategy.
