. . . Colorectal Cancer — cancer of the colon or rectum — is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States for both men and women combined. The disease surpasses both breast and prostate cancer in mortality, second only to lung cancer in numbers of cancer deaths. 

Despite the fact that it is highly preventable, approximately 145,290 new cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed in 2005 and 56,290 people will die from the disease