S^siio Cancer
is the No. 1
Cancer Killer
'Editor’s Note: If the present rate
continues, 45 million Americans now
livinp eventually will contract can
cer. Arthur Godfrey, who has under
gone the ordeal and now is serv
ing as Honorary Education Chair
man of the American Cancer So
ciety's April crusade, reports in this
second of three articles on the
danger, the value of early detec
tion, and some promising research).
By Arthur Godfrey
Written for The Associated Press
Many of the letters I received
after my recovery came from
people who were worried about
lung cancer. This is the No. 1
cancer killer of American males
— and it’s on the increase in
both males and females. It’s the
type of cancer I had.
When I began to get well, I
asked questions. I talked to the
experts. I read leaflets put out
by the American Cancer Society
for people like me, who never;
went to medical school. And I read
technical brochures that the so
ciety puts out for those who did,
so that they can keep up with
new developments in detection
and treatment, and consulted doc
tor friends.
Here are some of the things I
learned:
Lung cancer, like all cancers,
is most curable when treated in
the early stages. Again, surgery
and radiation are the only cure.
Although doctors are saving
more cancer patients than ever I
before, and although death rates 1
for almost all types of cancer!
are either levelling off or being!
sharply cut, the death rate for
lung cancer is soaring. It is, in
fact, 500 per cent higher than it
was 20 years ago. Lung cancer
killed 37,000 Americans in 1960.
Why the increase? There are
suspects, some of them proved:
Certain industrial chemicals now
happily outlawed; cigarettes, air
pollution and possibly other rela
tively new environmental factors. |
The American Cancer Society is
directing a public education pro
gram on cigarettes and lung can- j
cer to the youth of the nation. j
This is a major educational effort
in cancer prevention. Ten thou- j
sand specially trained volunteers ,
took part in the society’s pio
neering study of smoking habits
and lung cancer, a study which
would otherwise have been pro- ,
hibitively costly.
How can you best guard your- j
self against lung cancer? By
avoiding known risks. Non
smokers have a low rate of lung
cancer.
Don’t wait for symptoms. Have j
a yearly chest X-ray, along with i
your health checkup. The X-ray
can detect early signs of the j
disease, when the chance of cure
is best.
Dr. George N. Papanicolaou has
applied to the detection of lung
cancer the techniques of cell ex
amination which he developed
earlier for detecting uterine can
cer. The utrine cancer cell ex
amination has brought into the
realm the possibility the eradica
tion of this torm of cancer as a
cause of death. I hope that some
day this may be the case in lung
cancer.
Because of my interest in lung
cancer, I wanted to know more
about Dr. Papanicolaou’s work.
This great man spends most of
his time in a laboratory which
bears his name at Cornell Uni
versity Medical College. It is here
situ ars are prepared from bron
chia! washings and sputum and
examined under the microscope.
This technique can reveal the
presence of very early cancer,
sometimes before there is pain
and the lesion is too small to be
dected by any other method.
This technique has helped de
velop and is based on a whole
new branch of science called ex
foliative cytology.
This is the way Dr. Papani
colaou describes it:
While Residents Outnumbered
Two to One in 50th Stale
WASHINGTON i/P — The Cen
sus Bureau said today white resi
dents of Hawaii are outnumbered
mere than two to one by members
of other races.
The bureau counted 202,230
whites in the nation’s 50th State
in the i960 census last April. The
remaining 530,542 Hawaiians were
classified as members of other
races.
Here is the breakdown given
by the bureau for non-whites:
Japanese, 203,455; Filipinos,
69,070; Chinese, 38,197; Negroes,
4,943: Indians, 472; and all others,
114,405.
“Excoliation is a biological
principle. Just as trees and plants
shed their foliage periodically, so;
too, the animals, including man,
continuously shed innumerable
cells from tissues covering the
body’s surfaces, from the skin,
and also from the membranes
lining all body cavities. These
cells can be drawn off, preserved,
stained and examined under the
microscope to see whether the
cells are normal or cancerous.”
The cytological technique which
he developed is also being applied
to the detection of abnormalties
of the esophagus, stomach and
bladder. Detection is important.
Early detection is more impor
tant.
Man’s best chance against can
cer is to uncover it—wherever
it might be — in its earliest and
most curable stage. The earlier
the better.
I am happy to learn that more
and more research scientist sare
devoting their time to studying
ways of improving techniques of
cancer detection, Perhaps one of
them will come up with a simple
blood test for cancer or a method
of testing body chemicals or body
cells for the tell-tale sign.
Imagine what a discovery like
this could mean in saving 45
million Americans now living
who, the American Cancer So
ciety tells us, will eventually have
cancer if present rates continue.
The discovery will come. But it
will come a lot sooner if all of
us help support the efforts of all
those engaged in cancer research.
Next: Running scared .
Ice Poo! Dates
Since 1917, when the Porn
was started, the ice has gone
out at Nenanr. ns follows:
1517—April 30 .11:30 a.m.
191 ?—May 11 . 9:33 a.m.
1919— May 3 . 2:33 p.m.
1920— May 11.10:45 a.m.
1921— May 11.... 6:42 a.m.
1922— Mav 12. 1:20 p.m.
1923— May 9. 2:00 p.m.
1924— May 11 . 3:10 p.m.
1325—May 7. 6:32 p.m.
1926—April 26 . 4:03 p.m.
I9217—May 13.. 5:42 a.m.
1928— May 6 . 4:25 p.m.
1929— May 5 . 3:41 p.m.
1930— May 8 . 7:03 p.m.
1931— May 10. 9:23 a.m.
1932— -Mav 1 .10:15 a.m.
1933— May 3. 7:30 p.m.
1934— .April 30 . 2:07 p.m.
1S35—May 15. 1:32 p.m.
1936— April 30 .12:58 p.m.
1937— May 12. 8:04 p.m.
1933—May 6. 8:14 p.m.
—April 29 . 1:26 p.m.
194^—April 20 . 3:27 p.m
1941— May 3. 1:53 a.m
1942— April 30. ’:2S p.rr
1943— April 2R. 7:22 p.m
1944— May 4. 2:03 p.m
194 5—May 16. 9:41 a.m.
1946— May 5. 4:40 p.m.
1947— May 3. 5:53 p.m.
1948— May 13.11:13 p.m.
1949— May 14.12:39 p.m
1950— Mav 6. 4:14 p.m
951—April 30 . 5:54 p.m.
1952— Mav 12 ...... f M p.m.
1953— April 29 . 3-54 p.m.
1954— May 6 . 6:01 p.m.
1955— May 9. 2:13 p.m
1956— May 1 .11:24 a.m.
1957— May 5. 9:30 a.m.
1958— April 29 . 2:55 p.m.
| 1959—May 8 .11:25 a.m.
I I960—May 2 . 7:12 p.m.
Fresh Invasion Jitters
Seize Cuban Regime
HAVANA UP — Fresh invasion
jitters seized Cuba Saturday after
Prime Minister Fidel Castro’s
boast the Cuban people are im
patiently awaiting their enemies
and will smash any attempt to
overthrow his regime.
Castro told a worker’s rally Fri- |
day night the U. S. Central In
telligence Agency is directing a
plot to invade Cuba and in sun-1
plying terrorists and counter- i
revolutionary bands.
He charged the United States'
already is waging open economic
aggression against Cuba and warn- !
ed that rationing of some goods
may be necessary.
Even as Castro spoke, one of
his bitter foes said in New York 1
a general revolt against the Cuban
regime will get under way soon.
Jose Miro Cardona, head of the
exiled Cuban Revolutionary Coun
cil, told newsmen anti-Emi*re
leaders are meeting to outline a
program.
In Miami, Fla., the Miami Her
ald said in a copyright story Car- ;
dona’s council intends to over
throw Castro “by means of the
underground” rather than in in
vasion. Cardona already has
sought U. S. recognition of a |
Cuban government in exile, the j
Herald said, and is poised to set 1
up a provisional government in
Cuba.
_
We are not meant to be lonely
—a psychiatric study found even
normal people began to show
signs of neurotic behavior after
as little as three hours in com
plete isolation.
Chrysler Corp. Charged
With Putting Squeeze
On Compact Car Field
WASHINGTON l/P> — Atty. Gen.
Robert F. Kennedy charged in an
anti-trust complaint today that
Chrysler Corp. has been putting a ;
squeeze on Studebaker-Packard ,
competition in the compact car
field.
In a civil suit filed at Fort !
Wayne, Ind., the attorney general
asked Chrysler be enjoined from
pressuring its dealers to drop
sideline sales of Studebaker
Packard's compact, called the
Lark.
The suit notes Chrysler put a
compact of its own, the Valiant,
on the market in the fall of 1959.
A Chrysler spokesman said,
“while we have not seen the com
plaint, we are generally familiar
with the subject matter and in
ur opinion there is no cause for
action. We have made our rec
ords available to the Department
of Justice and cooperated with '
them in every way. It is not our ,
policy to apply illegal pressure j
against our dealers and we have {
not done so.”
Thieves Take $30,000 in Jewels
NEW YORK CPi — Dorothy H.
Hammerstein, widow of composer
Oscar Hammerstein II was rob
bed Sunday of jewelry worth
about $30,000.
Mrs. Hammerstein was away
from her East 49th Street home
when thieves broke in and took
the jewelry from a clothes
closet.
U.N. Calls For Punitive
Action Against S. Africa
For Its Racial Policies
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y.
The U.N. Special Political Com
mittee today called for punitive
action against South Africa for
its racial policies. This included
an African demand for an econ
omic and diplomatic boycott.
The boycott proposal won
majority approval, but failed to
get the required two-thirds mar
gin needed for final ratification
in the General Assembly. This
meant that the assembly probably
would wind up by adopting only
a milder Asian resolution which
simply called on all countries to
consider “separate and collective
action" against the South African
government.
The vote on the boycott plan
was 47-29 with 18 abstaining. The
United States was among those
voting against the proposal. Most
of its support came from Afri
can, Asian and Soviet bloc coun
tries.
CREW CUT COSTLY . . .
LONDON (j'P — Doris Jay, 40,
was ‘fined 20 pounds — $56 — on
an assault charge Monday for
giving a crew cut to a 19-vear-old
servant girl who had been frisky
with her husband. A police offi
cer testified Mrs. Jay fired the
girl, Miss Maria Consoli, but
when a few days later the girl
returned to the Jay house to
collect her clothes “Mrs. Jay sat
her down in a chair and cut off
her hair.”
B
This iron lung is now empiy—for a change. How long it and thousands of others remain
empty depends upon how soon the entire nation is fully vaccinated against polio.
Almost half the U. S. pop
ulation is unguarded against
crippling polio.
Basil O’Connor, president of
The National Foundation, has
described the vulnerability of
some 85 million Americans to
paralytic polio as “a national
disgrace.”
There is no scarcity of the
Salk vaccine, he pointed out,
and two inoculations now,
within a month's time, would
provide at least some measure
of protection against polio out
breaks and epidemics in the
summer.
In thousands of cities, vil
lages and hamlets across the
nation, Salk polio vaccination
is available at little cost, and
in some communities the pre
scribed series of at least three
shots is free. A fourth “boost
er” shot is now recommended.
“The individual’s common
sense and will to survive
should dictate immediate vac
cination,” Mr. O’Connor said,
“If he or she has a family, all
the more urgent ground for
polio protection.”
The National Foundation has
been joined in its nationwide
appeal to the unvaccinated by
the American Medical Associa
tion and the U.S. Public Health
Service.
_1
Illustrating vaccination status of the American public, chart
shows almort half the population is totally unvaccinated.