The recently issued President’s Cancer Panel report, “Promoting Healthy Lifestyles: Policy, Program, and Personal Recommendations for Reducing Cancer Risk,” highlighted the importance of healthy lifestyle as a means of reducing the risk of cancer.
The Report identified a workplace wellness program, the CEO Cancer Gold Standard™, as an initiative that is helping to reduce the burden of cancer for America’s workers and their families.
The Gold Standard calls for companies to evaluate their benefits and culture and take concrete actions in five key areas of health and wellness to fight cancer in the workplace. The program provides a means for companies large and small to address many of the recommendations in the President’s Cancer Report to reverse the trend of unhealthy lifestyle choices that lead to increased cancer risk.
“This report recognizes there is a long-term price to be paid by ignoring unhealthy lifestyle choices,” said Dr. LaSalle Leffall, Jr., chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel. “Programs like the Gold Standard recognize the dramatic, life-lengthening impact employers can make by supporting employees and their families in making healthier choices.”
To earn Gold Standard accreditation, a company must establish programs to reduce cancer risk by discouraging tobacco use and encouraging physical activity, healthy diet and nutrition; detect cancer at its earliest stages; and provide access to quality care, including the availability of clinical trials.
From the report:
The most successful programs appear to be those that involve all employees, not just those identified as having a specific health risk. This inclusive approach also is at the core of the CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ developed by the CEO Roundtable on Cancer, a coalition of business leaders and Chief Executive Officers from diverse industries who have pledged to apply the untapped power of business to fight cancer. The CEO Cancer Gold Standard focuses on five critical areas – tobacco use, diet and nutrition, physical activity, screening and early detection, and access to quality treatment including clinical trials. In each area, Gold Standard-accredited organizations are required to maintain a culture that encourages healthy lifestyles in addition to providing services related to each area.
SOURCE: “Promoting Healthy Lifestyles: Policy Program, and Personal Recommendations for Reducing Cancer Risk,” 2006-2007 Annual Report, President’s Cancer Panel; August 2007.
Currently, thirteen companies have received the CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ accreditation from the CEO Roundtable on Cancer. They are: American Cancer Society headquarters, American Legacy Foundation, AstraZeneca, Edelman, Enzon, GlaxoSmithKline, Jenner & Block, Johnson & Johnson, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Novartis, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Quintiles Transnational and SAS Institute.
About the President’s Cancer Panel
The three-person President’s Cancer Panel is appointed by and reports directly to the President of the United States on progress and issues in the nation’s effort to reduce the burden of cancer. The panel is chaired by LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D., professor of surgery at Howard University and also includes international cycling champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong and Margaret L. Kripke, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief academic officer at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. To read the entire report, please go to: http://pcp.cancer.gov