The Sun 42 WYNHAM STREET AUCKLAND SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1930. A MENACE THAT GROWS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1064, 30 August 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNHAM STREET AUCKLAND SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1930. A MENACE THAT GROWS

’THE only certain and perhaps the most just thing in life is that I everybody must die. But no one wants to die of cancer. And vet the disease is the worst menace to life and, in economic waste and social misery, ranks next to the common maladies of old a»c and middle-age cowardice.

Phe victims of cancer throughout the world every year number hundreds of thousands. Few nations are free of the ugly scourge Each progressive nation realises the necessity of making pfieat efforts to control and ultimately to conquer it. Cancer knows, no social distinction. It attacks the rich as well as the poor and spares neither in the form and extent of its ravages. Its mortal effects on women are lamentably severe. Thus it is the duty of every person able to think seriously aiul even selfishly to join in the Empire campaign against “the greatest of all the natural hazards in the adventure of living.” A special New Zealand crusade against this menace that grows begins in the Auckland Province on Monday and will be continued assiduously for three months. The initial purpose of the campaigners is to raise a substantial fighting fund. No limit should be set to the sum. Too much money could not be raised. The danger lies in raising too little. Other centres have made their efforts in a similar direction and have done well in difficult circumstances. East and strongest, Auckland, because of its greater population and resources, should he best in giving readily and generously to an appealing cause. It ought to be realised that it is not a case of giving freely to somebody else. There is always the terrible chance that one may be helping oneself. In every six women over forty years of age one .is doomed to he stricken by cancer; among men one in every seven may expect the same fate.

It is not necessary to allow panic to determine the measure of precautionary effort. The better way is to base public generosity on common sense and provide adequate means for overcoming an insidious and a sinister enemy which, according to the experience of the world’s ablest medical experts, can be conquered. So far, very little attention has been given to the important question of prevention. This fault is attributable largely to the layman. The average individual fails to realise (probably because he has not been told plainly and often enough) that he himself can do more to prevent an attack from cancer or indeed from any other disease than busy medical men generally have found time to do. Reasonable prevention is neither magical nor expensive. It may be summarised in a French proverbial phrase: “Ea mort entre par la bouche” (Death enters through the mouth). An expert prescription may be given without charge—a rare gift these days: “Daily cleansing of the mouth and throat by soap gargles is the best preventive.” If, through carelessness, some of the suds are swallowed no harm will be done. After the unpleasantness has passed away the gargler’s palate will not he jaded. The only weapons against cancer are surgery, the X-ray and radium. In this country the first is probably as efficient, as anywhere else in the world. The same cannot he said of radiatiow in the treatment of cancer, Tt is not unkind to sav that in the use of radium New Zealand is a backward nation. It is merely the plain truth, and the medical profession need not be peeved over the fact. Its members also have much to learn about the use of radium in the curative treatment of cancer. Eet it he put to their credit that, in seeking to educate the public on the latest methods for fighting cancer, they also are willing to acquire knowledge and merit. Fortunately for the community there is no danger of medical methods remaining or becoming too stereotyped and conventional. The whole profession is on the alert and eager to adopt the best possible means of combating a scourge. Of course, enthusiastic radiologists may be inclined to over-emphasise the value of radium in treating cancer, but it cannot he questioned that they have valid reason for their ardent enthusiasm. Many wonderful results have been obtained. Is it not right., is it not reasonable, that sufferers from cancer in this country should receive similar treatment? As has been said often enough by experts radium does its good work, and remains in effect unspent, ready to do more. Tt has been estimated that the cost of the radium needed for a ease of cancer requiring twenty-five days’ “needle” treatment is the interest, say £5, on £1,500 for that period. Thus, although radium costs £12,000 a gramme-—the total quantity in medical use throughout the world is only 250 grammes—the treatment of cancer patients is in reality incredibly cheap.

There can be no individual treatment of cancer by radiation. It would he wrong in principle and unfair in practice if any medical expert should acquire a monopoly in the use of radium. It must be obtained for and kept exclusively for community service in hospitals and special cancer clinics. This necessity is recognised in the countries where the greatest progress in the treatment of cancer has been achieved. New Zealand is exercising wisdom in following the same course. Tt is wiser still in aiming at a perfect combination of all the healing forces against a growing menace. Hitherto, the Dominion has been laggard in medical research. It now moves forward at a brisker, hut not an impulsive, pace. Real progress may have to he very slow, hut it is something to know that there is at last a forward movement. The people of this province, which suffers a. heavy share of a dread disease, should give freely of their wealth in order to safeguard their health. Let the Cancer Campaign Fund he the first charge on their resources and generosity.