At EU level, the new Commission guidelines on colorectal cancer will address the third most significant cause of cancer deaths after breast and cervical cancers.

"The new EU Guidelines provide a benchmark for best practice in colorectal cancer screening and should facilitate implementation of colorectal cancer screening programmes in the EU Member States, in accordance with the Council [of Ministers] Recommendation on cancer screening," says Stefan Schreck, head of Health Information at DG SANCO who will be presenting the guidelines.

For its part, ECCO has started work this year leading the co-ordination of one-third of all cancer research in Europe, public and private. This comes under an initiative of the EU Cancer Partnership, launched by the Commission in September 2009.

According to Coebergh, key initiatives for lowering mortality rates include education and awareness programmes promoting lower alcohol consumption - particularly targeting young women; mass screening for cervical cancer from the age of 25 and breast cancer from the age of 45, and programmes detecting hereditary colorectal, breast and ovarian cancers.

"But effective action will only take place if the various member states, the Commission and professional groups such as ECCO, support each other and work together," he says.

SOURCE European CanCer Organisation