CANCER treatment “breakthroughs” have generated significant media coverage for several decades. Fuelling the fervent community desire for a “magical” cure for cancer, media articles have incessantly spoken of numerous impending discoveries in cancer treatment. Yet, sadly, no significant cure has materialized. Meanwhile, the incidence of cancer in Australia has steadily increased by 36% between 1990 and 2000 (1). Considering the aging population, the total number of new cases of cancer is projected to rise by yet another staggering 31% between 2001 and 2011 (2). This daunting picture is further complicated by the fact that Australia has a relatively small workforce to support this rising patient population (3). Dealing with this unprecedented challenge in cancer control therefore requires a new approach. Owing to the tremendous impact of modifiable factors on cancer risk, it has been estimated that at least one-third of all cancers are preventable (4). Cancer prevention is defined as the reduction of cancer mortality through a reduction in the incidence of cancer (5). This involves reducing exposure to modifiable risk factors along with population-based screening to allow early detection of precancerous lesions. The success of prevention campaigns is evident from the prevention of more than 17,000 premature deaths in 1998 due to a range of successful tobacco control measures initiated in the 1970s (6). The decline in the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer due to early detection of precancerous abnormalities by Pap smears is an additional example of an effective intervention at the population level (1). Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization, prevention offers the most cost-effective long- term strategy for the control of cancer (4). Therefore, the future of cancer control in Australia lies not in the discovery of an elusive cure but in a national commitment to prevention, with a rebalancing of the focus as well as the funding of research…

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