One-year cancer screening pilot for Ontario

Toronto, ON June 19, 2003 The Ontario government is allocating C$2.8 million for a colorectal cancer screening pilot program.

The one-year pilot involves the screening of almost 150,000 people through 450 physicians and six public health units. The funding includes $1.2 million for the study costs and $1.6 million for laboratory costs.

“We know that colorectal cancer screening both reduces the number of new cases and the number of deaths from the disease,” says Dr Colin D’Cunha, commissioner of public health. “The pilot will collect useful information to help future decisions on how the ministry should proceed to reduce illness and death from colorectal cancer.”