1st Canadian Environmental Exposures in Cancer (CE2C) Network Meeting

Modifiable risk factors, including smoking, alcohol, diet, physical inactivity, and environmental exposures account for two-thirds of cancer cases, with exposures to natural and man-made carcinogens accounting for ~20% of all cancers world-wide. This represents a large health care and economic burden for Canadians. Current data used to inform health policy on acceptable exposure limits is based on short term exposure to high levels of environmental carcinogens. However, we know that chronic exposures to heavy metals such as arsenic and to radioactive elements such as radon impact cancer incidence, particularly for lung and urinary tract cancers. To better inform Canadians about avoidable environmental risk factors and to effectively guide government to institute better policies around acceptable exposure levels to cancer-causing environmental elements, studies of long term exposures to environmental carcinogens are needed. Such studies require the cooperation of clinicians, researchers, and epidemiologists to define at-risk populations, determine acceptable exposures limits based on scientific evidence and communicate the results to the public and government. To meet this challenge, we have formed the Canadian Environmental Exposures in Cancer (CE2C) Network that seeks to link researchers devoted to studying environmental exposures in relation to cancer from sea-to-sea. To launch CE2C, we have engaged three of the largest health cohort projects in Canada, the BC Generations Projects, Alberta's Tomorrow Project and AtlanticPATH as well as key scientists studying environmental exposures to take part in a one day meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia during the Fall of 2019. This meeting will enable research scientists and clinicians engaged in cancer research and epidemiology to come together to exchange ideas, and discover new opportunities for collaboration on large scale cohort studies to provide evidence-based strategies for exposure reduction and cancer prevention.