CAUSE OF CANCER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 43, 30 November 1937, Page 5

CAUSE OF CANCER.

AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. PLANT FOOD AND TUMOURS. (United Press Association —Copyright.) NEW YORK, November 28. Mr William L. Laurence, science editor of the “New York Times,” reports that a mysterious substance, so far unidentified, found to be the most powerful agent known for producing malignant tumours in the stomachs of rats, and promising to yield an important new clue regarding the origin of cancer, was announced before the American Philosophical Society bv Dr. Leonard Row r ntree, Director of the Philadelphia Institute for Medical Research, and his four associates. The substanco was created when crude germ oil was extracted from the germs of wheat and two other unnamed cereals by ether. It was emphasised that the substance was not found in commercial wheat germ oil or other cereal oils. These oils arc not extracted with ether, but are obtained by the expression or squeezing of cereal germs. The latter process produces a substance harmless to animals.

The discovery is most important, because it is the first plant product found capable of producing cancer by feeding. The present cancer-causing substances produce the disease only after prolonged injection. Whether ether creates a new chemical substance not naturally present in coreal germs, or releases a malignant substance, otherwise held in check by a combination of other substances is not established. The tumours so induced in 100 albino rats were invariably fatal.