Disinfectants 'hinder cancer detection'

Checking could save your life

The use of coloured toilet disinfectants may help explain the failure to detect some cases of colorectal cancer at an early stage, researchers have argued.

Nine out of ten bowel and colon cancers detected early can be successfully treated.

However, once the cancer has spread cure rates drop dramatically.

The national programme for the early detection of the disease advises people to check their toilets before they flush for signs of bleeding - a signal that not all may be well.

But Dr Mourad Habib, a clinical research fellow at St James's University Hospital, Leeds, says that the toilet disinfectants now sold in supermarkets are mostly blue in colour and change the water blue.

This can make looking for blood quite difficult, he argues.

Call for a switch

Dr Habib is calling on disinfectant manufacturers to switch to colourless products, or to use agents that turn a specific colour in the presence of minor amounts of blood.

Jola Gore-Booth, chief executive of Colon Cancer Concern, said Dr Habib had made an "interesting and valid" point.

She said: "Colorectal cancer is highly treatable if caught at the early stages, so the more people become symptom aware and act upon their concerns, the more we will reduce instances and deaths from this terrible disease."

The charity has launched a campaign to raise awareness of colon cancer, and runs an information line - 08708 50 60 50 - staffed by specialist nurses.

The research is published in the British Medical Journal.