CANCER FORMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 November 1931, Page 8

CANCER FORMS

CURIOUS DISSIMILARITIES. SYDNEY, October 2.

■ Cancer of the mouth causes 50 per cent, of deaths from cancer in Ceylon, but less than 1 per cent, of deaths from cancer in Australia. It has recently been asserted that 60 per cent, of all cancers in Queensland are situated in the skin. These observations were made yes-

terday by the Director of Cancer Research (Professor Chapman) when emphasising that while the incidence of the disease in all civilised countries is approximately equal, the forms of the disease vary to an extraordinary extent ih different countries. “In Great Britain,” said Professor Chapman, “there is an almost equal incidence of cancer in men and

women. The death rate from all forms in Japan is practically the same as the death rate in Great Britain, yet cancer of the breast is a rare disease in Japan. So far no rational explanaV.T has bee . n su £g es ted for the great differences in the organic / incidence of the disease in different races.” Professor Chapman referred to investigations made by Dr F. l/ Hoffman on behalf of the Prudential Insurance Company of America. The results of his studies had been communicated to the Federal Health Department in Australia. It had been] shown that 23 per cent, of those who!

died from the disease ih the Philippine Islands were affected in the mouth. In Mexico City the pe'r'centage was 14. Cancer of the mouth, however, rarely occurred in Australia, New Zealand, or among the white people of the United States, or American negroes; Quite dissimilar was the disi tribution of cancer of the breast. Twenty per cent, of the women of New Zealand Who died from the disease were affected in that form, On the other hand that form of the disease was uncommon in Japan, Chile, Egypt, Spain, and Ceylon. Professor Chapman said that as was

well known, cancer of the skin was much more common in Australia than in many other countries. It occurred freely, also, in the Philippine Islands, and in certain of the West Indies. Although the disease was regarded as one of middle age, it had been noted that cancers of these particular varieties which were most common in particular countries occurred - hot infrequently among the young.