For Release: May 16, 1997
Contact: Michael J. Bernstein (703) 648-8910
Carolyn J. Loss (703) 648-8928
Tuskegee Meeting Report Released to Public; More Minority Involvement in Clinical Trials Urged
African-Americans with cancer can benefit greatly from participating in clinical trials, according to a report released today by key national cancer organizations.
The report relects the proceedings from a national meeting that addressed the issue of minorities and medical clinical trials. The meeting was held last winter in Tuskegee, AL, the site of the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study trial, which involved 400 impoverished African-American men.
The meeting was organized by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Office of Research and Women's Health, National Institutes of Health. It was held in Tuskegee to emphasize that such studies will never be done again. RTOG is a national cancer research organization sponsored and funded by the National Cancer Institute and administered by the American College of Radiology (ACR). It is made up of more than 200 leading medical facilities across the nation and Canada.
Because of fears generated by the Tuskegee experiments, where the 400 men were left untreated by U.S. Government scientists to examine the effects of the disease, African-Americans have been reluctant to take part in other clinical trials. NCI has reported that while African-Americans make up 15 percent of the populations, only 2-4 percent of those participating in cancer prevention trials are African-Americans.
The report notes that cancer death rates are some 50 percent higher for African-American men than for white men and are some 20 percent higher for African-American women than for white women. Participation in clinical trials can help change the statistics, the report maintains.
For example, while African-Americans have lower cancer survival rates than whites, African-Americans and whites who participate in clinical trials have comparable survival rates. Participants in the trials are divided into two groups: those who receive the best known treatment at the time and those who receive a new, potentially better therapy.
The report, published in the form of a booklet, contains a series of telephone numbers to contact for more information about joining clinical trials.
To obtain a free copy of the booklet, Clinical Trials, Improving Health Care for African-Americans, write to ACR Publication Sales, PO Box 2348, Merrifield, VA 22116.
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