CANCER TREATMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 45, 23 February 1939, Page 9

CANCER TREATMENT

ALLEGED CURES

WARNING TO PUBLIC

(Special to the "Evening Post.") CHRISTCHURCH, February 22. Suggesting that much of the publicity given to reports of alleged cures of cancer might be a grave disservice 'tc the public, the president of the New i Zealand branch of the British Medic3l [ Association (Mr. P. Stanley Foster) last I night declared that it was high time "warning should be given to the public against this worst of quackeries." Mr. Foster made this comment at a reception given last night to members of the branch who are attending its biennial conference in the city. "We have not discovered the cause of. cancer, although a cable from America even now announces the discovery of a germ which may be the cause of this dread disease," he said. "We are again, I think, rightly conservative in accepting these announce- | ments. We know such claims will be fully investigated before being accepted or, as often happens, discarded. "The cancer problem has loomed largely before the public in the last | few months. It should be realised jthat the medicar profession throughout jthe world is seeking cause and cure I with the greatest diligence. No reasonable claim for cure is allowed to pass without thorough investigation and trial. | "Unfortunately, it is true that many

claims are published prematurely, and [ later discredited. It is true, too, that Iby hard and bitter experience we have become sceptical of every so-called cure, and while we wish to try anything that will benefit sufferers, we are equally anxious to safeguard our patients from false hopes and claims. I would like the public to believe what I sincerely believe ,to be true—that the medical profession as a whole is their best friend and guide in this serious trouble." New* Zealand was fortunate in that the best and most modern treatment known for cancer was available for everyone—certainly in all the main" centres, and even in some of the minor hospitals. Excellent advice was avail- . able in the consultation clinics—-work that had been greatly stimulated by the New Zealand branch of the Cancer Campaign Society. Many cases were being cured annually, and others greatly alleviated.