According to a new report, colorectal cancer screening is under-use in Canada. The main reasons for under-use of colorectal cancer screening procedures include, talking about that part of body is not easy to do, and lack of organized provincial screening programs across the country.

Dr. Ryan Zarychanski of the Ottawa Health Research Institute said, “Unlike breast and unlike cervical screening, where we have provincial and national campaigns - organization on a national level - this does not exist for colon cancer screening whatsoever,”

Zarychanski added, “I think that’s one important fact. Another one is that this is a really uneasy part of the body to talk about. And a lot of people don't want to go to their family doctor and talk about their rectum and bleeding from their anus and their bowel habits. That’s difficult to say in conversation.”

The editorial authors, Dr. Alan Barkun, director of gastroenterology at McGill University Health Centre and Dr. Ken Flegel, senior associate editor of the journal, wrote, “The proportion of patients screened for colorectal cancer has been extraordinarily low in Canada,”

“It is abundantly clear that to stay the present course of inaction will continue to cost thousands of lives.”

This year; 20,800 Canadians are likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer, which may result in 8700 deaths. Colorectal Cancer is the second most fatal form of disease among men and the third most fatal among women in Canada.