You can have a role today in preventing cancer tomorrow. That's the goal of the American Cancer Society as it rolls out the newest phase of a National Cancer Prevention study this fall.

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Jersey Shore Regional Vice President Roseann Weber says they're looking to enroll 300,000 people for its Cancer Prevention Study 3 that will track volunteers for a period of 20, 30 or 40 years. Weber says this study will go further than its previous ones that examined things like the role cigarette smoking played in the contraction of cancer. She says this time "we're looking at environment. We're looking at behavior. We're looking at genetics. We're looking at lifestyle. So this is the broadest of the studies.

However, Weber says what's significant about the studies is that if they find sufficient proof that certain behaviors prevent cancer, they release that information right away. She says they don't wait twenty or thirty years down the road. "You can look at that in terms of CPS2 which is still ongoing. You know in 1996 they determined that second-hand smoke was bad for you. That second-hand smoke actually increased the chance of getting cancer. So we released that information immediately and as you well know legislation and other activities took place to prevent people from being exposed to second-hand smoke."

Weber says to participate in the study, the individual needs to be between the ages of 30 and 65. They should never have had cancer, except for some types of skin cancer and they need to be mostly willing to have the American Cancer Society follow them for a period of time.

Eight enrollment offices through out Ocean and Monmouth Counties will be opening up in September. She says they're hoping to conclude registering volunteers by December 2013.

For more information, visit www.CPS3JerseyShore.org or call toll free at 1-800-227-2345.

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