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E-~x~ e~~~~_.Sa~ ~' ~.he~~ ~ Say .. Is -Mismanacred, 'Wbrthless" _ . ._ ~ /'OT JWtnil Wlft R~Oerri "This is standard policy in , tially, she said. WASHINGTON (AP) - NIH. The program on cigarette Several medical experts told a health hazards i3 a farce. It House subcbmmittee Tuesday consists of noisy scare cam- that the r.ation's war on cancer p a i g n s • w h i c h a r e -is being mis;r.anaged ar.d is counterproductive - Like most nearly worthless. of cancer edecation." he said. One of the harshest critics of Bross alleged that federal the :Yationai Cancer Institute cancer research money is go- (VCI) and the National In- ir.g to "laboratory scientists stitutes of Health (IVII-i) was who have no real interest in ..: Dr. Irwin D. J: Bross, director human cancer and who of biostatistics at the Roswell couldn't care less about Paric Memorial Institute for prevencion of human disease." Cancer Research in Buffalo, He caarged t.'tat the NCI Y Y - fur,as are largely cor.trolled by B ross . said. much of the,,,~"ie American Cancer-Society' money Congress has =arrr:ark- and said it should be barr ed ed for cancer research has from getting any `CI grants been "wasted on scientific for the nest four yesrs. In any boor.doggles such as the other part of government, worthless cancer vaccine "$ross said, it would be a cor- program" and other activities rupt praccice for persons ;iv- kte said are pushed hy ir.g out the money and persons technicians seeking part of the getting it to be the same. anticancer money. If half. of the tirr,e, effort and• The . critical analysis was money for the NCI in the past 3iven.tar a House Government five years had been put into an - 0perations subcommittee as- effective primary prevention tl~2 director of the National program"xe,xould at t:us mo- Center for Health Statistics me^t be well on our •say to t.he conceded that figures indeed actual conque_st of cancer," he show-hat there is an increased conter.ded. • risk of dying of cancer. "The programs for en- The director. Mrs. Dorothy vironmental carcinogens are P. Rice.said the cancer deatz little more than public rate has risen since 1930 from relations gimmicks - paper 1Q0 deaths per 1W.uG0 popula- tigers designed to reassure the tion to 171 deaths per 100.WO concerned public that for 1975. Preliminar,: figures something is being done when indicate that last vear's car.cer it isn't," he said. deat.tirate also rose substza- ... Asked the reasons `or the upswing, Mrs. Rice said that most of the increase has been due to the aging of the poo- ulatian. The chances of dy ing from cancer are highest for older persons. Other causes in- clude cigarette smekir,g and moree.roosure to ir.dustr:al en- vironments, she said. Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, of Ralph Nader's Public Citizen's ; . Health Researca Group. called ~ the national cpcer war a "sham battle." "INCI: under new Ieaders1hiC, must choose. to become the leader in the war to orevent cancer, rather than the bank- ing operation for the lar;ely unsuccessful war to treat it (car.cer) after it happens," said Wolfe. But Dr. Howard Temin. N,obel Prize winning professor at the Univers'ity of Wisconsin. said that the cancer program is strong ar.d the best in the world and must be continued to I find the factors :.hat cause L human cancer "so we can ;:ope j to prevent it. ' `. "Ne also need to continue I - our efforts at fir.ding cures ior; cancers, since it will be a long L time, if ever, before we will be ~ able to prevent all human ~ cancer.