Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
One in 52 children in Diabetes ‘has genes linked to 3 cancers’ Blackpool are in care
Huge divide between North & South
TYPE 2 diabetes shares genetic connections with breast, bowel and pancreatic cancer, scientists say.
They found two DNA variants are key contributors to those developing both type 2 and cancer.
People carrying the genes will have a raised chance of disease, the study concluded.
Experts hope the findings will pave the way to personalised treatments.
Diabetes UK said: “It’s important to remember people who have genes linked to type 2 and cancers can still take steps to reduce their risk.”
The study was led by Prof Inga Prokopenko at the University of Surrey.
ONE in every 52 children in Blackpool are in care as poverty and Tory benefits cuts push families to the brink, a report warns today.
Analysis reveals disproportionately high rates of youngsters in care in the North of England compared to the South. Last year there were more than 83,000 in care in England as a whole.
That figure could rise due to health inequalities and poverty, said the University of Liverpool report for the Child of the North All-party Parliamentary Group.
Some 93 per 10,000 children in the North were in the care system, compared to 62 in the rest of England.
The North East has the highest overall care rates, followed by the North West. Outliers include Blackpool, where one in every 52 children are in care.
The Lancashire town has persistent high levels of deprivation.
Other hard-hit areas include Hartlepool, Co Durham, with one in 63 children in care, and North East Lincolnshire, where it is one in 57.
This compared with one in every 278 for Hertfordshire and one in every 256 in Buckinghamshire, the report said.
Its authors warned that persistent poverty pushes youngsters into the care system. Hardship affects parents’ ability to cope, they wrote, worsening stress, mental health and domestic abuse.
Soaring child poverty levels between 2015 and 2020, largely due to benefit cuts, disproportionately affected the North of England, the report said.
Lead author Dr Davara Bennett said: “Our report exposed the deeply rooted social inequalities reflected in, and exacerbated by, the child welfare system.
“Local authorities are trapped in a cycle of ever-greater spend on children in care, at the expense of investment in effective support for families in need.”
Higher rates of children entering care are estimated to have cost the North at least £25billion more over the past four years.
Children’s homes are disproportionately concentrated in the North West.
South Shields MP Emma Lewell-buck, a former social worker who co-chairs the Child of the North APPG, said: “When children and families aren’t given the right support, the consequences and damage can last a lifetime.”
The group she chairs is asking the Government to scrap the two-child tax credit limit and the benefit cap, and invest more in the North.