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Prevention and Early Detection

ACS CAN advocates for public policies that can prevent nearly half of all cancer deaths by ensuring access to recommended cancer screenings, protecting the public from skin cancer risk, reducing tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke and supporting people in increasing physical activity, eating a healthy diet, and managing their weight.

Prevention and Early Detection Resources:

Un análisis económico realizado en enero de 2025 por ACS CAN y FTI Consulting examinó el impacto de los costos
compartidos en la atención médica de seguimiento tras una mamografía. El estudio mostró que, tras un resultado

La División de Prevención y Control del Cáncer de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC) supervisa el Programa Nacional de Detección Temprana del Cáncer de Mama y de Cuello Uterino (NBCCEDP).

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) calls on Congress to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) NationalProgram for Cancer Registries (NPCR). Accessible, high-quality and usable registry data is critical to protect health and save lives.

The CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC) plays a crucial role in providing millions of screening exams, funding state cancer registries, providing technical assistance and funding to state cancer control programs and educating the public directly on how to reduce their risk of c

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) provides grant funding to 20 state health departments, eight universities, two tribal organizations, and five other organizations to help prevent colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer in men and women and the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. for men and women combined.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) urges Congress to reauthorize the the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) to provide the program greater flexibility to NBCCEDP grantees, enabling them to implement evidence-based lifesaving screening, diagnostic, and treatment services and continue the innovative work aimed to reduce breast and cervical cancer disparities by passing the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) forCancer Act (H.R. 2381/S. 1866). This is critical to overall efforts to ensure that everyone has a fair and just opportunity toprevent, detect, treat and survive cancer.

Breast cancer screening is a continuum. It begins with a screening mammogram, which is often free for most insured women.

Our latest survey finds that 31% of screening-age adults have been more than one year behind on recommended routine cancer screenings. Over half say out-of-pocket costs are a barrier to getting screened, while 47% report that getting insurance approvals for covered screenings is a barrier.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the U.S. Although there has been substantial progress in reducing breast cancer mortality in the US over the past several decades, there are persistent disparities, especially among Black women. Additionally, breast cancer incidence is increasing, with the steepest trends among young women under 50. In 2025, an estimated 316,950 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer with an additional 59,080 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in women, and 42,680 will die from the disease. 

Tobacco Control Resources:

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) supports a comprehensive approach to tobacco control that includes significantly increasing excise taxes on all forms of tobacco. Regular, significant excise tax increases of $1.00 or more per pack of cigarettes are one of the most effective ways to prevent kids from starting to use cigarettes and to help adults quit. Tobacco excise taxes can also reduce tobacco-related health disparities among people with limited incomes, pregnant persons and among racial and ethnic populations.

 

The U.S. Surgeon General declared youth e-cigarette use to be an epidemic. E-cigarettes are the most used tobacco product among youth and, like any tobacco product, are unsafe. E-cigarette use is also most common among younger adults. Action is urgently needed to reverse these dangerous trends.

Tobacco excise taxes benefit people with limited incomes and reduce tobacco-related health disparities, especially when tobacco excise tax revenues are dedicated to cessation programs that serve people with limited incomes.

Tobacco use is one of the primary causes of cancer-related health disparities - disproportionately impacting people by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, mental health, income and education levels, and geographic location. Eliminating health disparities depends heavily on eliminating tobacco use. ACS CAN is pursuing evidence-based policies at the local, state, and federal levels that aim to reduce disparities and improve health outcomes for all individuals.

Significant tobacco tax increases are one of the most effective ways to prevent kids from starting to use tobacco and help adults quit. Substantial increases in cigarette tax rates also generate new revenue. In fact, every state that has significantly increased its cigarette tax has also boosted its state revenue - even after accounting for revenue loss due to beneficial declines in cigarette purchases resulting from the tax increase. 

Flavors are a marketing weapon the tobacco manufacturers use to target youth and young people to a lifetime of addiction. The use of any flavored tobacco product among youth is concerning because it exposes them to a lifetime of nicotine addiction, disease, and premature death.

For decades, tobacco companies have used flavors, in cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, hookah, to lure and target youth and young people and expose them to a lifetime of nicotine addiction, disease, and premature death. Flavors, especially menthol, are known to improve the ease and use of a product by masking the tobacco’s harsh effects. ACS CAN urges lawmakers to protect public health, not Big Tobacco’s profits, by passing comprehensive tobacco control policies that apply to all tobacco products.

Many important public health policies are often developed and passed at the local level. Communities are also able to advance health equity when they can pass specific public health policies aimed at addressing local health disparities. But preemption—when a higher level of government revokes local authority—can restrict local policymakers’ ability to pass, implement, and enforce innovative and proactive public health policies. States should be able to set a minimum standard for public health protections, but they should not pre-empt local governments from going above and beyond that minimum standard.

Big tobacco has a history of prioritizing corporate profits over people and communities burdened by tobacco-related illness and death. For decades, the tobacco industry has lied to specific communities and the public at large saying their products are not addictive, harmful or deadly. Tobacco manufacturers continue to create and flood the market with newly designed products they market as being less harmful and alternatives to quitting – a tactic that is not new.

Screening Resources:

Un análisis económico realizado en enero de 2025 por ACS CAN y FTI Consulting examinó el impacto de los costos
compartidos en la atención médica de seguimiento tras una mamografía. El estudio mostró que, tras un resultado

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) calls on Congress to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) NationalProgram for Cancer Registries (NPCR). Accessible, high-quality and usable registry data is critical to protect health and save lives.

The CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC) plays a crucial role in providing millions of screening exams, funding state cancer registries, providing technical assistance and funding to state cancer control programs and educating the public directly on how to reduce their risk of c

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) provides grant funding to 20 state health departments, eight universities, two tribal organizations, and five other organizations to help prevent colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer in men and women and the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. for men and women combined.

El cáncer de seno es el tipo de cáncer que se diagnostica con mayor frecuencia en mujeres en EE.UU. Aunque en lasúltimas décadas se han logrado avances sustanciales en la reducción de la mortalidad por esta enfermedad,persisten desigualdades, especialmente entre las mujeres de raza negra.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) urges Congress to reauthorize the the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) to provide the program greater flexibility to NBCCEDP grantees, enabling them to implement evidence-based lifesaving screening, diagnostic, and treatment services and continue the innovative work aimed to reduce breast and cervical cancer disparities by passing the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) forCancer Act (H.R. 2381/S. 1866). This is critical to overall efforts to ensure that everyone has a fair and just opportunity toprevent, detect, treat and survive cancer.

ACS CAN supports the Access to Breast Cancer Diagnosis Act to increase access to no cost breast cancer screening, including all diagnostic and supplemental tests.

Our latest survey finds that 31% of screening-age adults have been more than one year behind on recommended routine cancer screenings. Over half say out-of-pocket costs are a barrier to getting screened, while 47% report that getting insurance approvals for covered screenings is a barrier.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the U.S. Although there has been substantial progress in reducing breast cancer mortality in the US over the past several decades, there are persistent disparities, especially among Black women. Additionally, breast cancer incidence is increasing, with the steepest trends among young women under 50. In 2025, an estimated 316,950 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer with an additional 59,080 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in women, and 42,680 will die from the disease. 

Healthy Eating and Active Living Resources:

ACS CAN supports giving people tools, such as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), to make healthful food and beverage choices.

ACS and ACS CAN submitted comments and recommendations regarding the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, planned to be held in September 2022.

ACS and ACS CAN submitted comments on Topics and Scientific Questions for the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

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