Early roll-out of cervical screening planned

The Minister for Health has said that she hopes an early roll-out of the nationwide cervical-screening programme could be facilitated following the completion of the roll-out of the breast cancer-screening programme.

Speaking at St James's Hospital's annual international cancer conference, Mary Harney said the breast-screening programme would be rolled out to the rest of the country by next spring, and she hoped the cervical-screening programme would be delivered more rapidly. President Mary McAleese will be attending the cancer conference this morning.

National and international speakers attending the conference over the last two days include Dr Ruth Barrington, chief executive of the Irish Health Research Board; Dr Mark Clanton, National Cancer Institute, Washington; and Prof Patrick Johnston, director of the centre for cancer research and cell biology at Queen's University Belfast.

Among the topics covered yesterday was a strategy to treat prostate cancer involving stem cells. Norman Maitland, of the YCR cancer research unit at the University of York, explained that cancer stem cells were like the roots of a weed, and while conventional chemotherapy killed the plant "above the ground", therapy that attacked stem cells would kill the roots. "What we have to do is find out what's different between the stem cells and all other cells."