wednesday, november 19, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 105, no. 63
Doctor: lung cancer is plague of this century
By Ward Wright Triplett III
Cancer of the lung caused by cigarettes is the plague of
this century, said Dr. Edward Scanlon, president of the
National American Cancer Society. He addressed reporters
Tuesday morning concerning the society's present situat
ion and its plans for combating cancer in the future.
Scanlon, who is currently Chief of Surgery at Evans
ton Hospital in Illinois, discussed several alleged cancer
cures that have been popular in the past few years, includ
ing Interferon and Laetrile.
"Laetrile is one of themany 'unproven methods' we
have available now," Scanlon said.
"If a patient of mine wanted to try Laetrile as a last
resource, I wouldn't try to stop them. However, in my
practice, no one has ever been cured by it."
Scanlon said some people accept unproven drugs be
cause many people are trying to find a cure, but research
ers may not be able to determine all of the effects.
Deserves study
"Interferon does have an effect, but whether or not it
can be an effective cancer cure has yet to be seen. We do
feel it deserves further study."
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Interferon, which is made from white blood cells.
Fibroblast, and infacites, is not yet proven to be addict
ive, according to Scanlon, and only 1 1 000 of the drugs
are pure interferon. When the cost decreases (current
cost is about $100,00 per patient) Scanlon expects it to
be given a more serious look.
Scanlon was in Nebraska to speak at the NU Medical
Center's lOOth-year commemoration. He also spoke be
fore the Lancaster Medical Society last night.
The Cancer Society is studying the causes of cancer,
particularly in this area of the world.
"The science is not precise at this time as to the cause
of such a high incidence of cancer in the United States,"
Scanlon said. "If you take breast cancer for example,
there is no where else you will find women with that
problem. However, if you took a Japanese woman, and
moved her to Hawaii, her rate of incidence would go
higher. If you moved her to the continental United
States, it would be even more. As of now, there's no
explanation for that.
"But there is nothing on the horizon today that would
have the impact on curing cancer (more) than the elimin
ation of cigarettes," Scanlon said.
Although he admitted there is no way to change
people, the society is setting up further promotion to
Possible victory celebration
snow people what they are doing to themselves by smok
ing. Study centers
To help in that problem, Scanlon would like to see at
least five centers around the nation that would answer
peoples' questions, teach prevention of cancer and study
the disease.
The carcinogenic centers would also correct misinfor
mation about cancer.
Money is becoming a factor in the effort against
jancer. Lack of funds forced the society to partially aban
don its door-to-door fund-raising policy and call for aid
from major industries.
"For the past few years, the budget has been flat,"
Scanlon said. "The number of researchers they could
hire has dropped from 20 to 12 in the past five years,"
he said. The National Cancer Institute is facing a simil
ar problem.
If Ronald Reagan carries out his promise to cut taxes
10 percent, cancer research may be hurt, Scanlon said.
"We would encourage any program that is trying to
search for and identify an end to cancer, but because of
inflation, the money to support very many researchers
just isn't there."
Safety of fans dean's concern
Photo by Mitch Hrdlicka
"Just leaf me alone," this brittle autumn remnant
seems to say. It hangs in suspended safety on a cold
wire fence.
By Jim Faddis
The UNL Dean of Students is concerned a celebration
after a possible Nebraska victory against Oklahoma in
Saturday's football game could end in tragedy.
David DeCoster said people should be aware of the
dangers involved in going on the field after a game and of
tearing down the goal posts.
When goal posts are being torn down, it is likely that
they could snjp or fall and seriously hurt someone,
DeCoster said.
"We are trying to discourage fans from celebrating, in a
way that they might hurt themselves," he said.
"We want a Big Eight championship. But we don't
want a tragedy that would spoil it."
Damage to the football field and tearing down the goal
posts, which happened when Nebraska beat Oklahoma in
1978, is costly and could hinder the team's preparation
for a bowl game, DeCoster said.
"But those are secondary concerns," he said. "We are
truly concerned for the well-being of people."
DeCoster said the usual number of police officers, near
ly 100, will be at the Oklahoma game.
Nebraska received such good feedback because of the
way fans acted after the loss to Florida State that DeCost
er said "it would be a shame not to have as good of feed
back from winning."
DeCoster also is concerned about street bonfires that
often have occurred in past years. He said that street fires
are dangerous and create many hazards.
Street fires can spread easily and when big crowds
gather people can be forced too close to the fire where
they might be burned, he said, adding that they also cause
traffic problems.
DeCoster said that past bon fires have been severely
criticized by people within and outside the university
community and have caused a negative image of the uni
versity to be projected.
Police will be watching for bonfires this week and will
try to put out the fires and disperse crowds as quickly as
possible, if one occurs, DeCoster said.
He said there will be additional police officers patrol
ling 16th and R Streets this week.
The university's policy on group disturbances on cam
pus will be followed closely, DeCoster said. He said the
police will arrest those involved in criminal activity.
Arrests could be made for arson, interfering with the work
of police and fire department officers, assault, littering,
use of alcohol, disturbing the peace and destruction of
property, he said.
DeCoster said the university is trying to prevent bon
fires and the tearing down of the goal posts this year by
making people aware of the dangers associated with those
activities.
There is a lot of excitement among students about the
game, DeCoster said, and university officials have been
talking with student groups encouraging them to channel
that excitement in safe ways.
Party officials: government needs streamlining
By Hollie Wieland
The Director of the Nebraska Republican Party said
Ronald Reagan's role as president is to get the economy
rolling again and to lower the national unemployment
rate.
Dave Heineman said the message the election results
sent to Washington, D.C. was that government is too big,
too expensive and needs to be more efficient.
DiAnna Schimek, chairwoman of the Nebraska Demo
cratic Party, said the Party agreed with the Republican
Party on the need to streamline government at all levels.
Party members Schimek and Heineman expressed their
views Monday at the Lincoln Jaycees' Issues Lincoln.
The program, shown on Cable vision, was moderated by
Tom Krueger of the Lincoln Jaycees. Party members were
questioned by Trudy Saunders of radio station KFOR and
Pat Schmid of radio station KLMS.
State level
Heineman said efforts to streamline state government
possibly will involve a cut-back in state employees. The
cut-back, Heineman said could result in a better quality
of workers.
Schimek said the election results show a subtle political
shift of the American people to the right.
Both Party representatives said they support a partisan
legislature, but Heineman said he was not sure 1981 was
the year to initiate such a change. He said there are more
important measures.
Heineman said the reason for a Republican victory was
that the Party was giving people fresh ideas.
Although the Democratic Party already has established
a candidate-search program, it is still too early to specu
late on 1982 candidates.
For the 1984 election, Schimek said, there is specula
tion concerning Edward Kennedy and Walter Mondale as
candidates.
Heineman gave no names for 1982 candidates, but said
the Republican shift of registered voters from 16,000 to
48,000 gave the Party a good opportunity to beat VS.
Sen. Edward Zorinsky, a Democrat.
Zorinsky a challenge
According to Heineman, it is unlikely that Zorinsky
will change to the Republican Party. He said he was look
ing forward to the Republican Party running against
Zorinsky in 1982.
He said he hoped Reagan will run again, but it is too
early to speculate.
According to Heineman, the Republican Party has a
much stronger economic standing than a year ago, but
the Party still has a long way to go. He gave no definite
figures, but said the Party had approximately $50,000.
The Democratic Party at present is working on decreas
ing their debt, Schimek said. She said the debt has been
brought down from $40000 to $6,200. She said the
Party, by the end of the year, will be ready to start
rebuilding its funds.
The Moral Majority did not have a large impact in Ne
braska, Heineman said. However, he said it was hard to
judge its national impact.
Both Party members said the Moral Majority do not
have much future.
Heineman said Americans are happy with the two
party system.
Schimek said third party issues often are adopted by
one of the other two parties, thus eliminating the need
for a third party.
