In September, GE and leading healthcare and financial partners launched a new healthymagination initiative focused on accelerating cancer innovation and improving care for 10 million cancer patients around the world by 2020 [1]. The plan was announced in New York by GE’s CEO and Chairman Jeff Immelt to an audience of prominent cancer scientists and researchers, doctors, financial partners and employees of GE Healthcare. The company’s comprehensive initiative combines the strength of GE’s portfolio of integrated cancer technologies with collaboration between GE and new partners and data sources to help clinicians provide better, more personalized care.

A study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that even moderate alcohol consumption — as little as one-half to one drink per day — increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer by about 15% [1]. Daily consumption of two or more drinks per day (where a “drink” contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol, and results are independent of the type of drink consumed) increases breast cancer risk by 50%. These results suggest a much stronger effect of low to moderate alcohol consumption on lifetime breast cancer risk than previous studies [2-4] have done.

We’ve been fighting the war on cancer for forty years and although there has been a decrease in U.S. cancer deaths, the global burden of cancer has doubled over the last three decades [1]. Indeed, the leading cause of death in the world today is cancer, followed by heart disease and stroke [2,3]. Cancer also has the greatest economic impact from premature death and disability of all causes of death worldwide, costing $895 billion in 2008 [3]. That number is just the cost of loss of productivity; it doesn’t include the direct costs of treating cancer.

The American Academy of Pediatrics released this statement today in response to statements made during the Republican Tea Party debate [1]:

An investigation led by scientists at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, and Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia has identified germline mutations in the BAP1 gene that predispose individuals to malignant mesothelioma. The research, published online yesterday in Nature Genetics, describes two U.S. families with a high incidence of mesothelioma, as well as other cancers, associated with mutations of the gene BAP1 [1].

Scientists have discovered that individuals who carry a mutation in a gene called BRCA1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) are susceptible to developing two forms of cancer — mesothelioma and melanoma of the eye. When these individuals are exposed to asbestos or similar mineral fibers, their risk of developing mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen, may be markedly increased.