Mary Henry (Independent)

I am delighted this debate is taking place. In particular, Senator Glynn, who has promoted this debate for some time, should be congratulated. I am pleased that Senator Kate Walsh spoke about diabetes, which has been discussed by other Senators. I am president of the Diabetes Federation of Ireland so I am very concerned about the figures cited by Senator Kate Walsh about the increase in the number of diabetics who have been diagnosed. It is almost impossible to deal with them so I do not know how we would cope if diabetics who are currently undiagnosed were diagnosed with the disease.

It is important to introduce the obesity strategy as quickly as possible because it is very important for men and women. I am disappointed with the rate of progress in this regard. Since the election of the Government in 1997, there has been an incredible increase in the percentage of the adult population who are obese. In 1997, the percentage was 9% but it is now approximately 18%. This represents an increase of approximately 10% per year. I am doubtful if this will go down as one of the achievements of this Government.

It is important to encourage people to take exercise even if they are overweight. Walking keeps blood sugar levels down to a considerable degree, even if one is overweight. Public awareness campaigns of this kind are worthwhile. I recently read a paper about the value of exercise in keeping blood pressure down in men. It revealed that 20 minutes of moderate cycling three times per week was as effective over the course of two weeks as a considerable amount of medication in lowering blood pressure. We must promote these solutions, which are very simple and could make a considerable difference to the nation's health.

I am very fond of advertisements seen in London which use slogans like "Stairs — they are your friends" which encourage people to use stairs instead of lifts. Another advertisement's slogan was "Fear the pie" and featured a picture of a pie that looked as if it would engulf the viewer if he or she ate it. More public awareness measures along these lines would do no harm.

Cancer statistics have not been mentioned and are, unfortunately, associated with obesity. Some of these statistics are worrying because we could do more about detecting such cancers early, particularly colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer of the digestive tract and it was thought for many years that if it could be detected earlier, there would be a better outcome in respect of treating it. We have found this to be the case.

Many European countries have pilot screening programmes, if not full screening programmes, for the detection of faecal occult blood. This test is cheap and easy to carry out. The patient is given the papers which with to conduct the test. I will not describe the details of how the patient collects the faeces sample to test it for occult blood. The samples are sent to a laboratory through the patient's doctor over a three-day period. If the test is positive, the patient is offered a sigmoidoscopy. It is frequently possible to detect these cancers at a precancerous stage when they are called adenomas. In many cases, these adenomas can be removed in a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy. Early detection is, therefore, extremely important in preventing the development of cancer.

I raised the issue of screening programmes on the Adjournment some years ago and hoped that, at least, a pilot scheme would have been introduced. However, this has not happened. The Minister of State should examine the matter. Unfortunately, it frequently happens that a person with these cancers begins to feel miserable, goes to his or her doctor, is found to have anaemia, the anaemia is investigated and it is discovered that he or she has cancer which must be treated with a major operation. It is also possible that such people would have secondary cancers. It would be a good idea if we tried to introduce such a screening programme because colorectal cancer is one of the worst killers in this country. Given the existence of such a simple test for it, I hope the Minister would promote such a screening programme.

We still do not have a population register, the lack of which makes any screening programme less effective than it should be because an exact age cohort that could be brought forward each time is unavailable. Perhaps work could also be carried out in this area. I have raised the issue ever since I entered the Seanad but there has been no progress on it.

I compliment all the speakers in today's debate because a great deal of sense has been spoken. Those speakers who argued that men are not good at looking after their health are correct. Men are not particularly enthusiastic about visiting their GPs, a situation we wish to change.