ASPECTS OF CANCER

Hokitika Guardian, 16 January 1932, Page 2

ASPECTS OF CANCER

EFFECTS OF SOCIAL HABITS. PROGRESS TN PREVENTIVE WORK j Some remarkable facts about the I incidence of c-ancer among different classes of the population in England and in other countries were quoted recently by Sir Humphrey Rolleston, the famous physician. i Dealing with the report of the Director at the meeting of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Sir Humphrey said that knowledge attained during

the last 30 1 years was already indicating the broad lines along which prej vention of cancer must proceed. The immediate problem of rational i treatment remained.

Only 25 per cent of male deaths in England and Wales were due to cancer of the stomach. In some other European countries the proportion was as high as 50 per cent, or more. In England and Wales cancer ot the stomach was more common in the lower social classes.

In Bavaria the proportion of deaths from this cause among the working classes was 60 to 70 per cent. One conclusion drawn was that important factors in proclaiming this result were external and bound up with the habits and social levels involved and avoidable.

Cancer of the tongue was nine times mrtre frequent in England than in Bavaria.

Knowledge gained bv 30 years of research, the report stated, justified the hope that perhaps progress in the direction of an efficient cancer prophylaxis (preventive treatment) was possible.