OCR Text |
Show BY RICK KINNERSLEY Optimisim in Cancer Research It seems that everyday news of another cancer causing food substance sub-stance is publicized by the Food and Drug Administration. It's as if everything we eat will cause cancer. The disease is the only major cause of death in the United States that has continued to rise throughout this century. The National Cancer Institute Insti-tute says that cancer incidence and mortality have continued to increase in the 1970's with cancer increasing somewhat more rapidly than death from the disease. Even when smoking related cancers are removed from the cancer rate the disease continues to show a rise. With the billion dollars worth of annual research has come new, encouraging information, however, which may take some of the tension out of dietary decisions. At the recent Symposium on the Environmental Environ-mental Determinants of Cancer, researchers disclosed a number of common substances which actually block the action of cancer-causing chemicals. Included in the discovery are certain food additives, pesticides, vitamins and constituents of vegetables. vegeta-bles. According to Jane E. Brody of the New York Times, "Among the effective agents, studies in animals and people indicate the preservatives BHA and BHT, which are commonly added to cereals and baked goods, and such vegetables as cabbage, brussels sprouts and broccoli, vitamins vita-mins C and E and certain chemical relatives of vitamin A have shown effectiveness against cancer-causing chemicals, as have several sulfur containing pesticides." Interestingly, each of these chemicals chem-icals had been tested by cancer researchers with a preconceived notion that each was a contributor to cancer. Researchers were greatly surprised to find the opposite is true and they are now publishing their research widely hoping for the much needed breakthrough which may, indeed, bring the cancer cure. Chemical carcinogeneists, those who study the process through which chemicals cause cancer, have come up with a theory expounded at the Symposium on The Environmental Determinants of Cancer, by Dr. Elizabeth Miller who has been involved in cancer chemical study for the last 30 years. She says, "Most of the substances now thought to be carcinogens are actually pre-carcin-ogens. These may be either detoxified in the body to form harmless compounds, or they may be activated into carcinogens by body chemistry." The research continues. Weekly Column Release &ft ' UTAH HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION |