action being supplied by a chemical, as, for example, urethane. The growing expos ure of the
population to radiation from va rious s ources , plus the many contacts with a hos t of chemicals
s ugges t a grave new problem f or the modern world. The pollution of water supplies with
radioactive materials poses another problem. Such materials, present as contaminants in water
that also contains chemicals, may actually change the nature of the chemicals by the impact of
ionizing radiation, rearranging their atoms in unpredictable ways to create new chemicals.
Water pollution expe rts throughout the United States are concerned by the fact that
detergents are now a troubles ome and practically universal contaminant of public water
s upplies. There is no practical way to re move the m by treatment. Fe w dete rgents are known to
be carcinogenic, but in an indirect way they may promote cancer by acting on the lining of the
digestive tract, changing the tissues so that they more easily absorb dangerous chemicals,
thereby aggravating their effect. But who can fores ee and control this action? In the
kaleidoscope of shifting conditions, what dose of a carcinogen can be ‘safe’ except a zero dose?
We tolerate cancer-causing agents in our environment at our peril, as was clearly illustrated by
a recent happening. In the s pring of 1961 an epi demic of liver cance r appeare d among rainbow
trout in many federal, state, and private hatcheries. Trout in both eas tern and wes tern parts of
the United States were affected; in some areas practically 100 per cent of the trout ove r three
years of age developed cancer. This discovery was made because of a preexisting arrangement
betwee n the Environme ntal Cancer Section of the National Cancer Ins titute and the Fis h and
Wildlife Service for the reporting of all fish with tumors, so that early warning might be had of a
cancer hazard to man from water conta minants.
Although s tudies are s till under way to dete rmine the exact caus e of this epidemic over s o wide
an area, the bes t evidence is said to point to s ome agent pres ent in the prepa red hatc hery
feeds. Thes e contain an incredible variety of chemical additives and medicinal agents in
addition to the bas ic foods tuffs. The s tory of the trout is important for many reas ons , but
chiefly as an example of what can ha ppen whe n a pote nt carcinogen is introduced into the
environme nt of any s pecies. Dr. Hueper has des cribed this epidemic as a s erious warning that
greatly increas ed attention mus t be given to c ontrolling the numbe r and va riety of
environme ntal carcinogens. ‘If s uch preventive meas ures are not take n,’ s ays Dr. Hueper, ‘the
stage will be set at a progressive rate for the future occurrence of a similar disaster to the
human population.’ The dis covery that we are, as one inves tigator phras ed it, living in a ‘sea of
carcinogens ’ is of cours e dis maying and may easily lead to reactions of despair and defeatism.
‘Isn’t it a hopeless situation?’ is the common reaction. ‘Isn’t it impos s ible even to attempt to
eliminate these cancer-producing agents from our world? Wouldn’t it be bette r not to was te
time trying, but ins tead to put all our efforts into res earch to find a cure for cancer?’
When this ques tion is put to Dr. Hueper, whos e years of dis tinguis hed work in cancer make his
opinion one to res pect, his reply is given with the thoughtfulnes s of one who has ponde red it
long, and has a lifetime of research and experience be hind his judgme nt. D r. Hue per believes
that our situation with regard to cancer today is very similar to that which faced mankind with
regard to infectious diseases in the closing years of the 19th century. The causative relation
between pathogenic organis ms and many dis eas es had been es tablis hed through the brilliant
work of Pas teur and Koch. Medical men and eve n the general public were becoming aware that
the human environment was inhabited by an enormous numbe r of microorganis ms capable of
caus ing dis eas e, jus t as today carcinogens pervade our s urroundings. Mos t infectious diseases
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