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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:

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) urges Congress to increase funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) cancer programs to at least $482.9 million in Fiscal Year 2027.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) calls on Congress to fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Program for Cancer Registries (NPCR) at $63.4 million in FY 2027. Established by Congress in 1992, the National Program for Cancer Registries suppo

In a letter to Interview magazine Editor and Chief Mel Ottenberg, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), alongside the American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Truth Initiative, and Vital Strategies, expressed strong dis

In a letter to Vanity Fair Global Editorial Director Mark Guiducci, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), alongside the American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Truth Initiative, and Vital Strategies, expressed strong disappoint

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) calls on Congress to fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) at $265 million in FY 2027 and to pass the Screening for Communities to Receive Early

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) calls on Congress to fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) lifesaving Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) at $51 million in FY 2027.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) calls on Congress to support a sustained funding level of $310 million in Fiscal Year 2027 for fact based tobacco prevention and cessation programs and ensure the funding is used as Congress intended.

Pharmacists are playing an increasingly important public health role, in part due to the widespread presence of pharmacies in communities, with nearly 89% of people in the U.S.

In March 2026, FDA released the “Flavored Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) Premarket Applications – Considerations Related to Youth Risk; Draft Guidance for Industry." Draft Guidance provides FDA's current thinking about the topic of the guidance. The undersigned public health, medical, civil righs and community organizations conclude that the Draft Guidance fails to recognize the well-established history of signficant variations in youth flavor preferences over time, often caused by regulatory decisions, and this fundamental flaw threatens to open the regulatory door to a wide array of FDA-authorized products that would appeal and be accessible to youth, without signficant countervailing health benefits to adults who smoke.

Tobacco Control Resources:

The tobacco industry has a history of using litigation to avoid and delay laws and regulations enacted to safeguard the public. ACS CAN, with our tobacco control partners, has also relied on the courts to hold Big Tobacco accountable and to ensure the federal government is effectively implementing the Tobacco Control Act.

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.

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Screening Resources:

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) calls on Congress to fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) lifesaving Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) at $51 million in FY 2027.

Our latest survey finds that cancer patients and survivors living in rural communities are significantly more likely than those in other areas to find it difficult to afford their health care and to accumulate medical debt related to their cancer care. As a result of these additional cost burdens, rural cancer patients and survivors are more likely to skip or delay recommended medical care, skip or delay taking a prescribed medication, fall behind on recommended cancer screenings, and to face food insecurity.

Overall, colorectal cancer incidence has declined largely attributed to an increase in screening and changes in risk factors. However, this trend is not consistent across all age groups.

After declining through much of the late 2000s and early 2010s, prostate cancer incidence rates have risen for nearly a decade. The increase includes distant-stage disease diagnoses among men of all ages, climbing by nearly 3% annually among those younger than 55 years.

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 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.

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

Healthy Eating and Active Living Resources:

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) supports policies and funding that increase access to “Food is Medicine” (or food as medicine) initiatives and interventions intended to prevent, treat, or manage chronic diseases and often address food and nutrition insecurity.