Document kD3ORNkJkQBvoK60OwB8K62VE

RiLSA> QKL/L 0. 109.469 SUN. 176,258 SEP 28 1969 By ROY BODY, World Capitol Bureau OKLAHOMA CITY - Deaths ' from luitg cancer are more pre valent in tlie northeastern counties than elsewhere in Oh. ioma, two medical researchers reported this : week. j Dr. N'abih R. Assal. a special ist in epidemiology, and Dr. Robjert D. Lindeman. assistant pro fessor of preventive medicine at the University of Oklahoma, pre sented their findings in the Sep tember issue of the journal of the Oklahoma Medical Association. Studying Oklahoma deaths, from 1936 to 1965, the researchers found "geographic distribution shows lung cancer to be most prevalent in the northeastern counties." They noted that zinc, lead and coai mining abound in tbat area i and wrote, "The high mortality of 1 respiratory cancer in Oklahoma, a rural state, is a very signiiicant finding." LUNG CANCER. THEY SAID has increased in the last 20 years until it is presently the most com mon death-producing cancer among American men. Cigarette smoking and urban air pollution have been singled out 2T causes for the upsurge, they said. In their study, Assal and Linderman found 3.342 persons died from cancer of the respiratory system during their 10-year study period. The geographic distribution . .. shows the disease to be mere pre valent in the northeastern coun ties of the state extending from Ottawa ... to Hughes," they ob served. A dramatic increase in the dis ease during the study period the researchers said, was probably due to new environment factors. CIGARETTE SALES-AND. probably smoking--have steadily increased over the years, they ex plained. and population has slutt ed to metropolitan counties where air pollution is greater. Most cancer victims, they re ported, are men because "either ; males are more predisposed to (cancer of the respiratory system ; or males are more exposed on enj vironmcntal carcinogens. "Most occupations where the (risk of lung cancer mortality is [increased are predominately male | occupations sucu < mwlng," they ' said. "The association between esccv ive risk of lung cancer and ex-sure to radioactive ore mining, . kel refining, chromate, asbesis, gas or tar was definitely es tablished in the study." OTTAWA COUNTY. WHERE zinc and lead is mined, was pin pointed as an area where lung cancer death rates are among the state's highest. Washington and Okmulgee coun ties, said the researchers, are tiie sites of zinc smelter areas where the prevalence of respiratory ma- , tenancies is high. Noting petroleum and gasoline -plants in the central area of the state, they said assessment of air pollution in "Such areas is diffi cult but added: "Such an indus1 trial environment may have con tributed something to the com plex etiology of cancer------ " "The high mortality from can cer of the respiratory system in Oklahoma, a rural state, 'out a leader in the petroleum industry is a very significant finding," they ( concluded. j PRODUCED JM-83