More than a million people lose their lives in the EU each year due to cancer,
a major international conference heard today.
As a booklet was launched to highlight methods to help to prevent the disease, cancer societies were urged to take the lead in the battle.
Experts from the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) highlighted a variety of risk factors which Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and health professionals could use to tackle their own national situation.
"Significant success in reducing today's cancer burden could be achieved through effectively transferring our current knowledge into global behavioural and societal changes via targeted prevention and early detection strategies led by NGOs," Dr Helene Sancho-Garnier of the UICC said.
The World Conference for Cancer Organisations taking place in Dublin was told that appropriate programmes could prevent up to 30 per cent of all cancers in Europe, with early detection and treatments capable of curing a further 20 per cent.
UICC, which represents 280 cancer-fighting organisations, launched a new strategy handbook aimed at assisting cancer societies, health professionals and policymakers fight the disease through more effective prevention and detection programmes.
The booklet, Evidence-based Cancer Prevention: Strategies for NGOs - A UICC Handbook for Europe, emphasises that around 1.6 million new cases are reported annually in the EU.
The booklet highlights the risk factors behind the disease for the NGOs.
These include information on tobacco, diet, alcohol, environmental hazards, UV radiation and infectious agents known to cause the disease.
It highlights effective actions that can be taken to reduce population exposure to those risk factors and recommendations which the NGOs can adapt to form their own programmes.
The UICC experts said they recognised the social inequalities across the European Union and the possible impact of societal change.
Dr Sancho-Garnier, who edited the handbook, said she was aware Europe's wide geographical diversity and outlined a wide range of evidence-based prevention strategies that organisations could use to suit different contexts.