A parliamentary launch for new national patient-led charitable support organisation Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa will give press and guests on 30 June 2010 an inside view of the colon. A sculpted giant model of a human colon, on loan from the National Science-Technology Road Show Trust, will be on view in the West Foyer of Parliament. Left unchecked, bowel cancer is a major health risk – it kills more than 1200 New Zealanders a year. It's our most common cancer, affecting over one in 18 men and women, young and old, and is more common here than almost any other country. If detected early, bowel cancer is treatable however, so the message going out is to encourage men and women, young and old, to get tested if they have abnormal bowel habits or symptoms that might suggest bowel cancer. Chairperson of BBCA, Dr Sarah Derrett, says: “I was diagnosed at 39 with stage 3 bowel cancer in 2004 after a single symptom – a one-off haemorrhage. I have been fortunate enough to survive. However, this is not the case for hundreds of New Zealanders who die unnecessarily as a result of late diagnosis.” A pilot four-year bowel cancer population screening programme was announced by the government this year, but the BBCA says, while a welcome beginning, New Zealand needs a national screening programme, along with many other initiatives, to address the problems of bowel cancer in New Zealand.