The Max Cure Foundation Calls for Definitive Actions To Prevent the Continued Rise of Childhood Cancer in the United States
As part of a collaborative effort across sectors, the Max Cure Foundation urges a dramatic reduction of toxic chemicals in the environment and within consumer products to reduce the number of children diagnosed with cancer.
NEW YORK, Oct. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Max Cure Foundation is making an urgent call to scientists, policymakers, businesses, health advocates and parents to place prevention on an equal footing with treatment and the search for viable cures for childhood cancer. Jonathan Agin, Executive Director for the Max Cure Foundation, believes there is a critical need to act upon the science and evidence that overwhelmingly demonstrates the importance of reducing toxic chemicals, and the associated damage to our environment, in order to prevent numerous forms of childhood cancers.
With the recent release of the groundbreaking report, "Childhood Cancer: Cross-Sector Strategies for Prevention," and the national Childhood Cancer Prevention Initiative, for which The Max Cure Foundation, together with the American Sustainable Business Council, is a leading voice and founding member of, Agin asserts that by focusing on the prevention of childhood cancer through common sense measures, the idea of finding real cures for the various forms of childhood cancer will not be replaced, but rather will alleviate the burden associated with the diagnosis in the first place. Agin states, "We must undertake a distinct and specific effort to reduce cancer causing exposures, as well as understand how such exposures may be helpful in guiding families to a selection of more effective therapies," adding, "In the end, prevention is in fact the greatest cure of all."
The call to action is for everyone to get involved, as everybody has a role to play. Companies need to commit to produce safer chemicals in products, while consumers need to purchase those safer products. Additionally, the government needs to invest in prevention research, and policymakers need to advance public policies to create incentives for the production of safer chemicals in products. There is a need to support and expand regulations to reduce known-causes of cancer, and ultimately it is imperative to find ways to drive an economy that will help protect the health and wellbeing of all children, as well as sustain the growth of toxic-free businesses.
If more money were funneled into the research of prevention, the overall reduction of the burdens to the federal cancer research budget focused upon creating new therapies or producing less toxic drugs could be greatly reduced. For Agin, "It is imperative for the federal government, which is the top funder of research for childhood cancer, to join this initiative through vehicles such as the Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus, where these discussions can take root and the focus can be shifted accordingly."
Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children 19 years of age or younger in the United States. Frustratingly, less than 8 percent of the federal cancer research budget for the National Cancer Institute is allocated to pediatric-specific research. Of the overall amount of funded research, a significant portion never leaves the laboratory or goes further than a scientific paper.
The incidence rates of childhood cancer have increased 34 percent since 1975. In 2019, over 16,000 children, or approximately 1 in every 285 children in the US, were diagnosed with cancer. This is a time of great urgency that demands immediate action to prevent children being exposed to a number of risk factors in the environment, including traffic-related pollution, pesticides and solvents.
The "Childhood Cancer: Cross-Sector Strategies for Prevention," report was made possible by the efforts of Anne Reynolds Robertson, founder of Toxic Free Future for Our Children and a grant from the Reynolds Foundation.
For more information visit https://maxcurefoundation.org
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About:
The Max Cure Foundation, Inc. ("MCF") is a national 501(c)(3) childhood cancer organization founded and principally located in New Jersey whose programs have an impact across the country. MCF's mission is to fund research for the development of pediatric cancer therapies, including funding to discover less toxic treatments for children, to financially assist low income, military and first-responder families with a child in active treatment, and through advocacy, to pursue legislative and regulatory changes that benefit children with cancer and, at the same time, raise awareness to the needs of those fighting pediatric cancer.
About:
The Childhood Cancer Prevention Initiative (CCPI) is a collaborative effort to improve children's health by widely sharing the evidence base about the impacts of toxic chemicals on children, as well as opportunities for preventing childhood cancer by removing toxic chemicals from products and environments where children live, learn and play. Together, we will engage scientists and health professionals to review and interpret research; help manufacturers and retailers drive a shift in business practices; and encourage elected officials to implement responsible state and federal policies. We will learn from the experiences of parents, workers, businesses and communities, and provide them with information and tools to avoid exposure to potentially dangerous substances and exercise their power to shift the marketplace.
For More Information Contact:
Name: Giselle Chollett
Cell: +1 (917) 386-7116 (EST)
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE Max Cure Foundation
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