Document v3155ynrLyqRaDoxKk8jM9MZ

FILE NAME: Newspaper & Magazine Articles (NMA) DATE: 1955 DOC#: NMA103 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NYT - Cancer of Lungs Called 'Epidemic1 CANCER OF LUNGS CALLED 'EPIDEMIC' By MURRAY ILLSONSpecial to The New York Times. New York Times (1X5 ~-Current file); Jun 3. 1955; ProQuest Historical N ewspapers The New York Times (1X51 - 2003) Pg- 25 CANCER OF LUNGS CALLED `EPIDEMIC' Cases Up 4-Fold in 25 Years, Expert Tells Coast Forum -- Uncertain on Smoking TREND IS HELD UPWARD Disease Declared to Be Most Common in City, With Rise Far Greater Among Men By MURRAY IIXSON Special to The New York Times. SA N FRA NCISCO, Ju n e 2-- L ung cancer w as declared here today to have become an epi demic disease th a t still had not reached a peak. The assertion w as by Dr. Les te r Breslow, chief of the B ureau of Chronic D iseases, California D epartm ent of Public Health. H e emphasized th a t he used the te rm ``epidem ic" b ecause o f th e m ounting incidence of lung can cer and not necessarily to imply contagion. Speaking a t the eighty-second irrnual forum of th e N ational Conference of Social W ork, he said th a t lu n g cancer w as cau s ing m ore th a n 22,000 d eath s a year in the country and th a t its frequency had m ore th an quad rupled in tw enty-five years. H e added th a t it w as causing more deaths th an tuberculosis. "If this disease had increased in a period of tw enty-five w eeks instead of tw enty-five years," he observed, "consider th e excite m ent th a t would have occurred. T he fa c t th a t an epidemic of cancer stretches out over years rath er th an weeks tends to dull our sensitivity to it." In c re a se D e cla red `B e al' Dr. Breslow contended th a t the increase in th e disease could not be explained by citing th a t people w ere living longer and hence w ere m ore likely to de velop it or th a t physicians w ere b etter able now to diagnose it, thus increasing its incidence statistically. The increase is "real and sub stantial," he asserted. The available evidence indi cates, he said, th a t lung cancer is "a disease of the environ m ent," th a t it "m ust be a re flec tio n o f c h a n g e s" in m a n 's living conditions. Studies in the U nited States, England and Den m ark all indicate, he added, th a t lung cancer is much m ore prev alent in urban comm unities than in rural areas. H e declared th a t th e evidence 1"in c rim in a te s " v a rio u s occupa tions. H e listed various m ining operations, sm elting, welding, asbestos work, painting, m etal fabrication and restaurant cook ing and said th a t the disease had increased tw o-and-a-half tim es m ore rapidly am ong m en than am ong women. As for cigarette sm oking as a possible facto r in th e increase of the disease, he held th a t it "does not explain all lung cancer." Dr. M orton L. Levin, assistant comm issioner for m edical serv ices of the New York S tate De partm ent of H ealth, reviewed the evidence on sm oking. H e said th a t "som e cases of lung cancer occurred in persons who had never sm oked." `K now n' E v id e n ce on S m oking H e added that, f rom w hat w as known, "we can only point to the fact th a t cigarette sm oking is one of th e factors which influ ences the occurrence of lung cancer, th a t it m ost probably is not the only factor, and th at each person m ust decide for him self w hether the indicated risk is w orth taking or not." Miss Jane Hoey. director of the U nited States Bureau of Public A ssistance in the Adm in istrations of Presidents Franklin D. R o o sev elt a n d H a r r y S. T ru m an, w as the first recipient to n ig h t of th e 51,000 F io rin a L asker Social W ork Award. Miss Hoey is now research consultant to the N ational Tu berculosis A ssociation in New York. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.