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Mr. Rogers once was quoted as saying "We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."

Today we have 46 children or approximately 2 classrooms full of children that are diagnosed every school day in this country with cancer.

Scientists now believe that many childhood cancers are caused by cancer causing environmental exposures. Evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that environmental contaminants such as pesticides and certain chemicals, in addition to radiation, may contribute to an increased frequency of some childhood cancers.

Cancer remains the leading cause of death among U.S. children ages 1 to 19 years, second only to accidents.

Children are different from adults. Pound for pound, children eat more food, drink more water, and breathe more air than adults. Thus, they are likely to be exposed to substances in their environment at higher levels than are adults. Exposure to toxicants may result in irreversible damage, even though the same exposure to a mature system may result in little or no damage.

While the cure for cancer is critical,in the larger picture we must look at the road to less cancer. We must look to our environment where there are common place cancer causing environmental exposures.

The environment of today is the proverbial mirror for human health. Our role is charged with reducing the unnecessary and preventable exposures that have taken on the everyday landscape in our own lives those known to have caused cancer and those we suspect to have caused cancer.

Sadly since Mr. Rogers died of Stomach cancer five years ago we have have had over a hundred thousand new cases of stomach cancer diagnosed in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), approximately 760,000 cases of stomach cancer are diagnosed worldwide and more than 24,000 cases are diagnosed in the United States each year.

Mr. Rogers was a great leader. I wish he was here to help with the battle to prevent cancer.

Bill Couzens, Founder Lesscancer.org

Mr. Rogers once was quoted as saying "We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."

I have to wonder if Mr. Rogers had the opportunity to understand the "neighborhood" and or "environmental" connections to cancer he likely would be the best leader for leading the charge to reduce cancer causing exposures linked to the environment.

Today we have 46 children or 2 classrooms full of children that are diagnosed every school day in this country with cancer.

Scientists now believe that many childhood cancers are caused by cancer causing environmental exposures. Evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that environmental contaminants such as pesticides and certain chemicals, in addition to radiation, may contribute to an increased frequency of some childhood cancers.

Cancer remains the leading cause of death among U.S. children ages 1 to 19 years, second only to accidents.

Children are different from adults. Pound for pound, children eat more food, drink more water, and breathe more air than adults. Thus, they are likely to be exposed to substances in their environment at higher levels than are adults. Exposure to toxicants may result in irreversible damage, even though the same exposure to a mature system may result in little or no damage.

While the cure for cancer is critical,in the larger picture we must look at the road to less cancer. We must look to our environment where there are common place cancer causing environmental exposures.

The environment of today is the proverbial mirror for human health. Our role is charged with reducing the unnecessary and preventable exposures that have taken on the everyday landscape in our own lives those known to have caused cancer and those we suspect to have caused cancer.

Sadly since Mr. Rogers died of Stomach cancer five years ago we have have had over a hundred thousand new cases of stomach cancer diagnosed in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), approximately 760,000 cases of stomach cancer are diagnosed worldwide and more than 24,000 cases are diagnosed in the United States each year.

Mr. Rogers was a great leader. I wish he was here to help with the battle.

Bill Couzens, Founder Lesscancer.org