MELAKA, April 22 (Bernama) -- Cancer will continue to be the number two killer in the country if Malaysians do not change their lifestyle, said National Cancer Council (Makna) President Datuk Mohd Farid Ariffin.

He said cancer was becoming a serious disease in the country as one in four were at risk of having it.

"At present more Malaysians are at risk of having colon cancer after breast cancer and lung cancer," he told reporters after receiving a RM65,000 donation that was collected from a dinner organised by Sri Kesidang for Makna and a report on the recent Women's Health Convention at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) in Durian Tunggal near here Tuesday.

Mohd Farid said 7.8 per cent of Malaysian males were having colon cancer compared to 5.6 per cent women with Chinese and those above 50 accounting for most of them.

He said public awareness on cancer was very low as many people were not practicing healthy living.

"Society is not interested to find out about cancer for they feel that they will not get the disease.

"Healthy living, minimising stress and avoiding unhealthy environments can prevent cancer," he said, adding that the disease could also be caused by unhealthy diets.

-- BERNAMA

Source by: http://web7.bernama.com, April 22, 2008