More Participants Needed for Cancer Prevention Study 

October 17, 2012 -- [Burnaby, BC] LifeLabs is proud to support the BC Generations Project, a study that will help to guide future disease prevention programs.

If you’re a BC resident between the ages of 35 and 69 and you’d like to build a healthier future for the next generation, you are needed!

The BC Cancer Agency’s BC Generations Project continues to recruit participants for the largest cancer prevention study ever conducted in BC. With 25,000 British Columbians already on board, the Project is hoping to push that number up to 40,000 by the end of its recruitment phase in March 2013.

The BC Generations Project is part of a national research effort to explore how genetics, environment, lifestyle and behaviour contribute to the risk of developing cancer and other chronic diseases. Across the country, more than ¼ million Canadians have already joined this massive, multi-year research endeavour.

“Creating this type of resource will be incredibly useful to researchers,” explains Dr. John Spinelli, the study’s principal investigator and a distinguished scientist at the BC Cancer Agency. “With a population sample of this size, we can provide relevant information for thousands of different studies into the causes of cancer and other related chronic diseases.”

Any BC resident aged 35-69 is eligible to join the BC Generations Project. New members of the study can join simply by completing an online health and lifestyle questionnaire. At some point, they’ll also be asked to provide blood and urine samples. The Project intends to recontact study members as they age to gather more information about their health and lifestyle.