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CANCER EDUCATION
By C.H.Phillips, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.H.
Deputy Medical Officer of Health
Although there is some decrease in the total number of deaths from cancer in West Ham
it should not be concluded that the tide is turning. National figures continue to show an
increasing trend.
The high proportion of deaths from malignant disease of the lung and bronchus as
compared with the total deaths from cancer continues to give cause for concern. Compare the
deaths from malignant disease of the lung and bronchus (page 21 ) with those from respiratory
tuberculosis (page 19 ) and consider the attitude of the community as a whole to the two
problems. People are generally well aware of the cause and course of tuberculosis, the
advantages of early treatment, are co-operative in contact tracing, are ready to attend for
Mass radiography or are willing to have their children given B.C.G. The attitude to cancer,
on the other hand, is quite different. They are not yet willing to face the issue. However,
new knots are being unravelled each year on the cancer problem as a whole and the public must
continually be reminded of the known facts until such time as their prejudices, fears and
hoodoos regarding cancer have been dispelled, as they have been to a very great extent in the
case of tuberculosis.
Cancer arises from body cells which have for some reason started to multiply rapidly
until they form a lump or may invade the surrounding tissues, destroying them in the process
or breaking off in pieces and being carried to glands or more distant parts of the body where
they continue to multiply and destroy.
There is still much to be learnt about the cause of cancer, but we do at least know
that certain substances called carcinogens present in a great many things can cause the
disease. It is mainly a question of the type of carcinogen and the strength and duration
of its application. Just as carcinogens in soot were responsible for cancer of the scrotum
in chimney sweeps, so also may cancer of the lung be caused by the filth we breath in from
the air of our cities and towns and in tobacco smoke. There is now a great deal of evidence
to show that cancer is more prevalent among town and city dwellers than in the country and
in cigarette smokers as compared with non-smokers.
What is to be done about the problem while research continues to probe into the causes
obviously one step is the clearing of the air we breath. Another is the earliest possible
detection and treatment of the disease. The solution here surely lies with the public, the
general practitioners, the hospitals and the mass radiography services. But to obtain the
greatest possible response the public must know what to look for - the skin ulcer that does
not heal; the small lump in the breast which is best felt with the flat hand (not with the
fingers); bleeding or disturbance of menstruation in cancer of the cervix or uterus; loss
of weight, indigestion and abdominal pain, loss of appetite and anaemia in cancer of the
stomach and blood in the urine which may result from cancer of the bladder.
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