WAR AGAINST CANCER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 30 November 1933, Page 10

WAR AGAINST CANCER

STILL LEARNING MUCH Speaking at the opening of a new cancer, hospital in Liverpool, Lord Moynihnn said they were still learning much and learning rapidly the role of the range of radium as a curative agent. The chief improvement in the control of cancer would come, however, from earlier diagnosis. This would not be possible until- doctors and patients learned to recognise the very earliest departure from . health which gave warning of the advent' of cancer. To serve this most desirable end it was necessary to take the public, into medical confidence and to make them partners with the medical profession in a joint ell'ort to combat the disease. Can-, cer was primarily a local disease and therefore, while local and accessible, it was always curable. It allowed to spread from its local origin to distant parts it then became incurable and the dreaded message the surgeon had so often to impart was, “Too late.” Lord Moynilian spoke earnestly against tho credulity of the public and their belief in quicks. Cancer, he said, was never yet cured by the quack. He urged, all patients to consult their doctor about doubtful lumps, ulcers, unusual symptoms, and so forth. He emphasised that cancer chose to attack a diseased rather than a healthy organ and that there were pre-eaneerous conditions which, would become cancerous or tend to become cancerous if neglected. There did not appear to be any heredity predisposition to cancer and the disease was neither infectious nor contagious.