About 2,000 people die from lung cancer a year, 80% of them are smokers

This was brought up in the discussion held by the Science and Technology Committee of the Knesset. Chairman of the committee, MK Uri Makalev: "The high incidence of lung cancer is among smokers and still the Knesset does not do enough to prevent smoking; The treasury must budget more for the issue than the massive taxation it receives from the sale of cigarettes"

The Science and Technology Committee chaired by Committee Chairman MK Uri Makalev (Torah Judaism) held a discussion on Tuesday with the aim of increasing the government's involvement in technological advancement for innovations in the treatment and detection of lung cancer.

Chairman Makleb opened the committee with an instruction received from the legal advice of the Knesset that since there is a proceeding in the High Court in a petition to compel the Ministry of Health to allow funding for the detection of lung cancer for smokers, therefore the discussion will not deal with this but with general aspects of the scope of the disease and its technological solution. "You will be presented with the data showing that lung cancer has an extremely high morbidity, but the possibilities to act against it are many and varied. These things oblige us to act and do as much as possible in order to improve the lives of the patients and prevent further morbidity. The data indicate that morbidity is high among smokers and unfortunately the Knesset rabbi is not doing enough on this topic of smoking prevention, education and awareness of the issue among young people, increased enforcement in public places, etc. I am amazed here in the Knesset how the issue of smoking is unfortunately common and no activity has yet been done to prevent it."

MK Yehuda Glick (Likud): "Smoking prevention is the most important act for the treatment of lung cancer - the data show that those who have not smoked until the age of 24, are most likely not to smoke, and therefore education among young people on this subject is a must for the State of Israel, which still does not do enough in this regard . Meanwhile, the State of Israel brings in close to 7 billion NIS a year from taxation on cigarettes and on the other hand invests less than 6 million NIS in anti-smoking advocacy. It is easy to imagine what would happen if a company tried to introduce a new product to Israel that 50% of those who consume it die - the same attitude is required for cigarettes."

MK Jemaa Azberga (the joint list): "As one who has given many courses to stop smoking, I also agree that the first thing that needs to be done is education among young people and in particular in the Arab sector - in the settlement of Segev Shalom with a population of about 10000 people, today there are 24 Cafes with hookahs. It is a delusional situation that the youth get used to smoking and think it is positive and do not know how far they are going when there is such an incidence of lung cancer among smokers."

MK Nourit Koren (Likud): "Unfortunately, I encountered this disease twice in close personal proximity from my family's daughter and my father who passed away from the disease. My father worked in a block factory and most likely because of the cement he aspired to the things that caused him to do this. Medicine today is bringing new technology that is more successful in curing people - we need to get to the point where patients will be able to receive what the advancement brings and give life and quality of life to everyone."

From the Israeli lung cancer association, the CEO Dr. Shani Goldberg introduced Sheila The data on the incidence of lung cancer: "Every day 6 new people are diagnosed with lung cancer, 5 people die from lung cancer, 4 of whom are smokers, every year 1950 die from lung cancer and as a rule, a lung cancer patient has a low survival rate after five years of course In front of the other crabs". Dr. Shani Goldberg Sheila shared with the committee her personal story that led to the establishment of the association, "My husband was a non-smoker and despite that he got lung cancer. The struggle and difficulty we experienced during the entire period of the disease led me to establish an association that would be dedicated only to lung cancer and today it provides information and support, creates a common community, works in cooperation with European and global umbrella organizations and represents lung cancer families in the present and in the future. As someone who has experienced and accompanies the patients, the load on the doctors in the wards is crazy and people must be added immediately to help them with all the bureaucracy in front of the patients. It's not expensive personnel - we need more administrative workers to support the whole process and leave the treatment of the disease to the doctors."

Dr. Abd Agbaria, Director of the Oncology Institute at Assuta Hospital: "We are dealing with a disease for which we have the great duty to ensure early detection and proper treatment - we easily miss lung cancer when it starts and is identified because people come to the emergency room because of a cough and since it is a common thing As winter diseases or other things, they are sent back. This is how we find ourselves with people in a very advanced stage of the disease and then the chances of cure are small. The best treatment for lung cancer is preventive medicine - we can fight this alarming phenomenon only if we dedicate ourselves to a relentless war against smoking. No other cancer has the striking figure that 80% of patients are smokers."

Prof. Nir Peled, director of the oncology department at Sorka Hospital: "Even if everyone stops smoking today, we will see the change in morbidity only in 15-20 years. We must act to promote and introduce new technologies that will work in hospitals, especially in the south, where the data overwhelmingly show that the incidence of lung cancer is much higher, and the main reason for this is because there is no access to medicine in the south."

Prof. Fred Hirsch, director of global lung cancer from the USA, expressed his appreciation for the health care system in Israel and noted that there is room for wider cooperation and bringing clinical research to Israel, which in his opinion is critical in order to improve the condition of lung cancer patients in Israel, whose condition is getting worse.

The chairman of the committee, MK Makleb, concluded the discussion with a demand from the Ministry of Finance to channel the high funds from the taxation of types of cigarettes in favor of anti-smoking awareness and research and development that will help in the treatment of lung cancer.