THE WAR UPON CANCER.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 December 1932, Page 6

THE WAR UPON CANCER.

Though it is a generation since the late King Edward urged upon the medical profession the need for well-organised and equipped research into the causes and cure of cancer, it was another 20 years before the Imperial Cancer Research Fund made possible continuous and co-ordinated research work throughout the Empire. The issue of the tenth report of those who are administering the fund shows that while no startling developments were recorded last year inquiry is being prosecuted with vigour and that remedial measures are meeting with some degree of success. Last year’s report contains lengthy references to the effect of radium upon cancer, the conclusion apparently being that radium in some experimental cases prevented as well as overcame cancerous growth. In others its use retarded the development of cancer, and for inoperable cases its value has been repeatedly proven. At the same time emphasis is placed upon the limitations of treatment by radium, and the necessity for its use only by medical practitioners. Radium has its dangers as well as its uses, but properlyhandled it appears to be a useful weapon in the campaign against ths disease, which is now first in the causes of death in Australia and New Zealand. It is not easy to compare local statistics with those of older countries because of different methods of compilation, but in regard to Australia and New Zealand, where the general conditions and standards of living are the highest known, of every ten deaths one is due to cancer. The need for research is as great as ever, for the mortality figures from this disease appear to increase year by year while the causative agences still seem to be beyond the reach of science to determine. Nevertheless advance is being made, and if the necessary financial assistance is forthcoming the reward of research is sure to follow, sooner or later.