Seven in Ten (70%) Canadians are Confident that Within Their Lifetime a Cure for Cancer Will be found

Toronto, ON - According to a new Ipsos-Reid poll conducted on behalf of ARIUS Research, seven in ten Canadians (70%) are confident that, within their lifetime, scientists will find a cure for cancer. While, overall, Canadians are optimistic when it comes to the future of cancer treatment (68%), there are some who don't expect to see effective cancer treatments anytime soon (34%).

Nine in ten (92%) Canadians indicate that, if they had cancer, they would be willing to donate some of their tumour tissue for research on new drug treatments. In fact, three-quarters (76%) strongly agree that they would donate tumour tissue for research.

A solid majority of Canadians (87%) want to know more about the latest developments in cancer research - not surprising when we find that an equal proportion (87%) have had their lives touched by the disease via the diagnosis of a friend or family member.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/ARIUS Research poll conducted between November 5th and November 7th, 2002. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,002 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001Census data.

Research highlights include:

• Seven in ten Canadians (70%) are confident that, within their lifetime, scientists will find a cure for cancer. Most optimistic in this regard are residents of Quebec (77%) and Canadians aged 18 to 34 (76%). At 60 percent, residents of Saskatchewan or Manitoba appear comparatively pessimistic.
• More than two-thirds of Canadians (68%) think that, within the next ten years, cancer will become something you treat and live with rather than something you die from. Again, Quebeckers appear to be the national optimists in this regard (at 77%). Older Canadians (77% of those aged 55 and older) are also very likely to share this point of view.
• Only one in three Canadians (34%) do not think researchers will develop effective cancer treatments in the foreseeable future.
• Nine in ten (92%) Canadians indicate that, if they had cancer, they would be willing to donate some of their tumour tissue for research on new drug treatments. In fact, three-quarters (76%) strongly agree that they would donate tumour tissue for research.
• Almost nine in ten Canadians (87%) say they would like to know more about the latest advances in cancer research. This sentiment is most prevalent among residents of Quebec (91%), while residents of BC on the other hand (81%) are least likely to want to know more about advances in cancer research.

Clearly, this is an issue of real and personal concern to Canadians, with almost nine in ten (87%) reporting that they have friends or family members who have or have had cancer. Given the disease's increasing prevalence with age, it is not surprising to note that Canadians aged 55 or older are most likely to know someone personally who has been diagnosed with cancer (91%).

• Among those who have had a friend or family member diagnosed with cancer (867 out of the 1,002 Canadians interviewed), only three in ten (31%) felt their friend/family member's cancer treatments had been extremely or very effective. One in five (20%) said such treatments were not effective at all, while most rated them only somewhat (31%) or not very (15%) effective.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900

Helen Findlay
Vice President
ARIUS Research
(416)862-2323 ext. 223