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Show CANCER Answerillne : American Cancer Society 2' A regular feature, prepared by the American Cancer Society, to help save your life from cancer. A furniture manufacturer writes: "My wife has tried three times without success to stop smoking cigarettes, and instead, she finally decided de-cided to switch to a low tar, low nicotine brand. Will this keep her safe from cigarette-related cigarette-related diseases?" ANSWERIine: There is no such thine as a "safe" ciga rette. A major recent study by the American Cancer Society showed that smoking low tar and nicotine ciga-' rettes results in lower total death rates, including lower death rates from both lung cancer and coronary heart disease. However, among ' people who smoked low tar and nicotine cigarettes, deaths were still 30 to 75 percent higher than among those who never smoked regularly. This means that while it may be a step in the right direction for your wife to reduce her tar and nicotine intake, quitting would be the best of all. Why not contact your local American Cancer Society Unit .- your wife may - be surprised and encouraged en-couraged by the practical help in smoking withdrawal that the ACS can give. A school dietician asks: "Is it true that the plastic film wrap we use in the kitchen is made of the same material that has been linked with cancer?" ANSWERIine: The material you have in mind is vinyl chloride, a gas, that is commercially com-mercially converted to solid form for use in plastic bottles and wraps. The Food and Drug Administration investigated investi-gated the material because there is a link between the gaseous form of vinyl chloride chlor-ide and cancer. There was a possibility that some of the gas remains trapped in the solid form of the plastic and could migrate to food. However, How-ever, after investigation, the FDA could find no vinyl chloride "migration" problem with the plastic wraps we so commonly use. A high school coach explain:: "I recently saw the very moving story of Babe Didrik-son Didrik-son Zaharias, the famous "Babe" on TV, and I would like to know something about the kind of cancer she had. Is it common?" ANSWERIine: This outstanding outstand-ing athlete and courageous human being had colon-rectal cancer, one of the most common forms of cancer which occurs almost equally in men and women. "Babe" went on to win major sports victories and to live several years after being treated for cancer. Although she did die of the disease, thousands of colon-rectal patients are no saved each year because colon-rectal cancer is one of the most curable forms of cancer if it is detected in an early stage and treated promptly. To accompli!1 that, the American Cancel Society advises the public (1) to have regular checkups, certain laboratory tests (and special "procto" examination-1 after the age of 40) and (2) to see a physician right away upon noticing a change in bowel habits. |