We have started a petition calling for the Government to requirte all over-the-counter medications to carry a warning on the packet "See a GP if symptoms persist."
If we achieve 10,000 signatures, the Government will respond; at 100,000 signatures it triggers a debate in Parliament. Targetting the people who suffer from persistent heartburn and getting them to see their GP for further advice and an endoscopy if the reflux cannot be resolved is a key strategy for combatting oesophageal adenocarcinoma, so please sign the petition here:
petition.parliament.uk/peti...
The details are below:
We call on Government to take steps to promote the earlier diagnosis of oesophageal cancer by requiring all packets of heartburn medication to carry an explicit warning of the importance of seeing a GP if symptoms persist for more than three weeks.
The UK has the highest reported incidence in the world of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC), a disease heavily associated with persistent and severe reflux and the precursor condition Barrett’s Oesophagus, that kills 7,700 people each year. Many people who develop OAC have been self-medicating on over-the-counter medication for years before their cancer diagnosis. Diagnosing, monitoring and treating Barrett’s Oesophagus is a key strategy for reducing the incidence of this cancer.
