SALT LAKE CITY -- A new cancer study is recruiting hundreds of thousands of volunteers from all over the nation -- with about 2,000 needed here in Utah.
"It's a study where we're recruiting volunteers to participate in a study that could virtually eliminate cancer as we know it today," said Lex Olsen of the American Cancer Society's "Cancer Prevention Study 3."
The study will examine the lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors in people's lives. The American Cancer Society said it hopes it will examine the causes and prevention of cancer.
"My father died of complications from cancer and I wanted to do my part to help find the reasons that cancer occurs and how we can possibly cure it," said Susan Davis, who signed up on Wednesday to participate in the study.
Davis said the study consists of some initial blood work, two years of online surveys and researchers plan to follow participants for 20 years.
"I lost my parents and two sisters to cancer," said Debra Hoyt. "In a manner of five years, I lost the majority of my family and that makes it very personal to me."
Hoyt will be signing up to participate in the study. Participants must be between 30-65, never having had cancer.
"They also need to make a long-term commitment to the study, meaning that every couple of years we're going to follow up with an email survey to see if anything has changed with their lifestyle, their health, with other factors that may cause cancer," Olsen said.
The American Cancer Society conducts a study of this magnitude about every 30 years. Previously, a study established the link between smoking and cancer.
For more information on the study, including where to sign up in Utah, click here.
