{"id":237357,"date":"2016-09-27T06:06:39","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T20:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=237357"},"modified":"2016-09-27T06:06:39","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T20:06:39","slug":"cca-aims-bring-oral-cancer-cases-cnmi-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/cca-aims-bring-oral-cancer-cases-cnmi-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"CCA aims to bring oral cancer cases in CNMI to zero"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gov.<\/a>
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signs House Bill 19-65 or an act that would prevent the sale, offer or giving of areca nut (betel nut) to minors last Friday at the Governor\u2019s Office\u2019s conference room. HB 19-65 is now Public Law 19-66. (Jon Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Commonwealth Cancer Association is confident that they could bring the number of oral cancer cases in the CNMI down to zero with the help of the community and armed with the recently signed Public Law 19-66, or the act to prohibit sale of betel or areca nut to minors.<\/p>\n

Recent studies made by University of Guam-Cancer Research Center, in partnership with the Hawaii Cancer Research Center, show that betel nut chewing causes risk of getting oral cancer. UOG health sciences assistant professor Dr. Yvette C. Paulino is the research project coordinator.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signed PL 19-66, House Bill 19-65, last Friday with principal author Rep. Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) along with CCA officials and their partners like the Community Guidance Center and several dental clinics in attendance.<\/p>\n

CCA president Roman \u201cBo\u201d T. Palacios said they are thankful for the assistance given by CGC and the dental clinics that helped them get the figures of oral cancer cases in the CNMI. \u201cThey helped us in getting the numbers from the people that were used in the study.<\/p>\n

There have been 57 oral cancer cases that were linked to betel nut chewing since 2007 in the CNMI with 39 have already died. Oral cancer is the third-ranked cancer type in the Commonwealth next to breast and cervical.<\/p>\n

\u201cCCA is working closely with Dr. Paulino to basically help us, help you to quit chewing since several dozens have been afflicted by oral cancer here in the CNMI. Mr. [Juan L.] Babauta has also been diligent in educating the people, that\u2019s why we\u2019re confident that we\u2019re going to make strides in getting that number back to zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babauta, CCA\u2019s program director, said there are also two pending bills in the Legislature that is also connected to betel nut one of which is House Bill 19-72 introduced by Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao (Ind-Saipan) that would impose a $5 per lb tax on betel nut imported into the CNMI either by a person or a business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue with our educational awareness campaign with the likes of Mami Ikeda going to schools and reaching out to other families. We will work closely with our partners and parents, and now that we also have a legislation in hand,\u201d said Babauta.<\/p>\n

Ikeda has been an oral cancer advocate after the death of her brother Kazu two years ago. Two of her brother\u2019s friends also died due to oral cancer.<\/p>\n

Seventh-day Adventist Dental Clinic\u2019s Dr. Ken Pierson is also encouraging people in the community, especially those who regularly chew betel nut, to schedule a checkup at a dental clinic. \u201cIf you noticed something in your mouth, like sores, then get yourself checked. This is a free cancer screening and early detection is a key in the treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Cancer Association is confident that they could bring the number of oral cancer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":237377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[270,26,194,67],"class_list":["post-237357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cca","tag-cnmi","tag-house-bill","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}