The American Cancer Society is looking for 30o,000 to participate in a long-term cancer prevention study to include 500 First Coast residents.
Part of the study will include finding out whether participants are more susceptible to specific types of cancer, but the information collected during the study will flow in one direction only.
The study, titled CPS3, seeks to prevent cancers from developing by figuring out what causes them.
Researchers say among the first things participants will be asked to do is fill out a questionnaire and provide a blood sample for analysis. That analysis, they say, will include tests for genetic markers that could signal a person’s susceptibility to certain forms of cancer.
However, because of the way the study is set up, participants won’t be told the results of those tests.
Not only would it likely be far too expensive, says Dr. Kenneth Goodman, Director of the Bioethics Department at the University of Miami and the head of the Florida Bioethics Network, but it also might not be in participants’ best interest.
“Some people don’t want to know," he said, noting the potential psychological effects of discovering you have an increased probability of getting cancer because of the marker. "I might not get it, but you just made me crazy for the rest of my life because you thought you had a duty to."
To qualify, participants must be between 30 and 65-years-old with no history of cancer. Researchers say after the initial blood test and questionnaire, participants will be asked to update their medical and personal histories once a year for the next 30 years.
