I am calling on people in Birmingham to check if they're eligible for the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme after attending a reception at Parliament held by Beating Bowel Cancer recently.

Over 2.6 million people participated in the screening programme in England by October 2009 and as a result of this, nearly 4,000 people had been diagnosed with
bowel cancer. Mr McCabe highlighted how bowel cancer is beatable if it is diagnosed at an early stage: a recent analysis by the National Cancer Intelligence Network
found that 93.2% of patients diagnosed with early stage bowel cancer would survive five years from diagnosis compared to just 6.6% of those who are diagnosed later.

Cancer Research UK has also estimated that there could be up to 20,000 fewer deaths from bowel cancer over the next 20 years if just 60% if those eligible took up the invitation for bowel screening.

People living in Birmingham were able to access free screening from April 2006 and 57% of people eligible have so far had the test. By October 2009, 1212 cancers had
been detected across the region as a result of this. Beating Bowel Cancer say that if the number of people being screened in the region reaches their target of 77%
between 2010 and 2012, over a million people will have participated and 1796 cancers will have been detected, reducing mortality by 8%.

I hope that everyone between the ages of 50 and 74 will consider taking part in this screening programme: we are lucky here in that South Birmingham PCT runs a great programme and I urge all my constituents to take part

Screening saves lives and I'm really pleased to support the great work that Beating
Bowel Cancer does to highlight this important issue.

Hilary Whittaker, Chief Executive of Beating Bowel Cancer says:

"We are delighted that Steve McCabe is supporting Beating Bowel Cancer's call to action on screening. Whilst significant improvements have been made since the start of the programme, we know more lives could be saved if participation in screening increased. That is why Beating Bowel Cancer is calling for policymakers and the NHS to commit to ensuring one million additional people are screened by 2012 and urges the government to extend the age range for screening in England to those in their fifties so that more people at risk of bowel cancer have the opportunity to be screened for, and beat the disease."

Beating Bowel Cancer's Patron, former England rugby international Matt Dawson MBE,adds,

"BE LOUD BE CLEAR is a light hearted campaign with a serious message. It is very British to shy away from talking about issues relating to bowel cancer and yet it affects 1 in 18 of us.5 Sadly my grandfather died from bowel cancer and my mother is now fighting the disease so I know only too well how important it is to BE LOUD
about bowel cancer.

"On behalf of Beating Bowel Cancer, I would like to thank all the fundraisers across the country that have planned LOUD events and are shouting out about bowel cancer."