Scientists kept in dark over cancer data

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

LIFE-saving cancer research is being blocked by Queensland Government restrictions on scientists gaining access to a register of sufferers throughout the state.

The Cancer Council of Queensland has launched unprecedented legal action in Brisbane's Supreme Court for access to the register to enable independent study of the disease, including blocked work into why survival rates are lower in regional and rural Queensland.

Scientists believe the study may embarrass Queensland Health because it is likely to reveal detection and treatment standards are failing outside of Brisbane.

Queensland is the only state in Australia, and one of the few jurisdictions in the Western world, where researchers require case-by-case approval to access the cancer register for the development ofprevention and treatment strategies.

Queensland Health has refused to release localised cancer statistics and has failed to fund the collation of data on the stages that cancers are being discovered in different areas.

The battle has emerged as suspected cancer clusters - involving the ABC's Brisbane studios and firefighters in north Queensland - are being investigated by the Government.

Documents obtained by The Australian show that some of Australia's leading scientists - including former Australian of the Year Ian Frazer - have repeatedly appealed to Premier Anna Bligh and Health Minister Stephen Robertson to grant routine access to the data.

The Cancer Council of Queensland - which was awarded management rights of the register in 2001 - has been denied access or forced to wait up to a year for approval to use theinformation and start the research.

A two-year backlog in collating the data, partly blamed on underfunding, has further blown out the delays.

Queensland Health has enforced the approval procedure for access to the register because of concerns the release of information could identify an individual sufferer.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/stor...5005941,00.html