Editorial roundup: Views from around Georgia

Published 11:00 am Monday, September 12, 2022

Valdosta Daily Times: Men urged to get screening

Men who are often advocates women for women’s health during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October often forget to take care of themselves in September.

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

The month is designated to raise awareness of prostate cancer and to urge men to have a prostate exam. Blue is the color for prostate cancer month.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in U.S. men, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

The foundation’s Step Up For Blue campaign empowers men to take control of their health — and encourages their loved ones to support them, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

When you Step Up for Blue, you support the 3 million U.S. men living with prostate cancer and the countless families fighting this disease worldwide, foundation representatives said.

The foundation wants men to know:

• Every three minutes a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer.

• Prostate cancer is 100% treatable if detected early.

• Black men are 2.4 times more likely to die of prostate cancer than white men.

“African American men are impacted at a greater rate than any other group, therefore, the 100 (Black Men of America) will always include education and screening of prostate cancer as a priority in our health and wellness programs,” Thomas W. Dortch Jr., chairman emeritus, 100 Black Men of America, said in a past statement.

“The international headquarters delivers education and screenings at our annual conference and these services are amplified across the 100-chapter network in the United States and London.”

Prostate Cancer Foundation research has helped lower the U.S. prostate cancer death rate by more than 50%, according to the foundation.

And breakthroughs in prostate cancer research are saving lives for at least nine other cancers.

Age is the biggest risk factor for prostate cancer. But it is not the only one. Other factors include family history, genetics, race, lifestyle, dietary habits.

“Genes for disease can run in families,” according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. “Men who have a relative with prostate cancer are twice as likely to develop the disease, while those with two or more relatives are nearly four times as likely to be diagnosed. The risk is even higher if the affected family members were diagnosed before age 65.”

Prostate screenings should begin between the ages of 40-50 for men depending on genetic markers, race and age, according to the foundation. Check with a health professional to see when you should start being screened for prostate cancer.

More information: Visit www.pcf.org.

We urge our male readers to get regular prostate cancer screenings.

Brunswick News: State legislature must take strong stance on drunk driving

Someone once asked what it would take to make roads and highways safer. Answers provided unveiled little seasoned drivers did not already know.

First was to convince motorists that following the laws and recommendations for safe driving is in the best interest of everyone. That includes the interest of the driver and everyone else in the vehicle.

The second was law enforcement for those who think rules apply to other people. Of course, the problem with this one is having sufficient police and highway patrol personnel to catch those who act as though stop signs and speed limits are merely suggestions. In many cases, cities, counties and states have barely enough officers to keep the peace let alone monitor for traffic infractions.

The third was to find a way to convince those who get behind the wheel of a vehicle when under the influence of alcohol or drugs that they are playing Russian roulette with the lives of everyone they meet on the road, as well as with their own.

Many are one-timers. Either they miraculously make it home safe and pledge to themselves never again or are fortunate enough to be picked up by police before they can do harm to themselves or others.

Then there are those who do it again and again. It does not matter that the state has suspended their driver’s license and it is unlawful for them to drive. In their narrow way of thinking, an individual only needs one if pulled over by police. It also is unlawful to drink and drive, but that never seems to faze them.

Consequently, these men and women get back out on the highways under the same mentally altered state that cost them their license. Some will run out on their luck and cause an accident that takes a life, maybe even their own.

We’ve said this before and we will say it again: it is time for the state legislature to address this issue. The only way to remove those who repeatedly endanger the lives of others is to keep them off the road, and the only way to guarantee that is to keep them in jail, or at least for longer stretches of time.

Extended incarceration is one solution for those who cannot be rehabilitated. Alcoholism is a disease. Society would not stand idly by while an individual with some other potentially deadly disease intentionally spread it to others. Neither should it stand idly by and wait for a repeat DUI offender to claim the life of an innocent victim.