Historic petition handed to Holyrood

MSPs have been presented with what is thought to be the biggest ever petition demanding action to fight a medical condition.

- By Richard Elias

Signed by more than 200,000 people, it is calling on Holyrood to step up its efforts to tackle pancreatic cancer.

Yesterday, Isla Gear took the petition and a letter signed by almost 60,000 members of the public to present to the Scottish Parliament.

Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest common cancer. More than half of those diagnosed with it die within three months.

Currently, there are no screening programmes or early detection tests to help doctors with a diagnosis and the disease symptoms are extremely vague, such as back pain, unexpected weight loss and indigestion.

As a result, 80% of people are not diagnosed until the cancer is at an advanced stage and too late for lifesaving surgery.

Survival of pancreatic cancer has seen little improvement since the early 1970s and by 2027, it is projected to overtake breast cancer to become the fourth biggest cancer killer in the UK.