NEED FOR A COMMISSION ON THE CONQUEST OF CANCER AS A
NATIONAL GOAL BY 1976
The present research effort in cancer has shown that 4 or 5
minor forms of cancer can be successfully treated with drugs.
against the forms of cancer which cause the largest number of deaths, drugs
cause only temporary remissions.
each year.
However,
300, 000 Americans still die of this disease
No large mission or goal-directed effort, supported with adequate
funds has ever been organized against these diseases.
group of diseases. )
(Cancer is really a
However, in the atomic sphere, and in outer space when a national
goal was set and adequately funded, the United States has been victorious,  and
has landed men on the moon.
as have been used in outer space planning and financing should be applied to
The same talents for organization, goal-directed,
cancer.
Such authorities as Dr Sidney Farber, the president of the
American Cancer Society; Dr. R. Lee Clark of the M. D. Anderson Institute
for Cancer Research in Houston; and Dr.  Robert J. Huebner of the National
Cancer Institute, among others,  state the answers to cancer can be found if
the effort is well planned in stages and sufficiently well financed.
advances in the fields of viruses, drugs and other areas which make them feel
sure that the final answers can be developed.
There are
President Nixon and Secretary Finch should appoint a Commission
on the Conquest of Cancer which would include space scientists, industrialists,
administrators, planners, and cancer research specialists. A Commission should
include men such as Mr. Laurance S. Rockefeller; Mr. Thomas J. Watson, Jr. ,
of the International Business Machines Company; Dr. R. Lee Clark of the M. D.
Anderson Institute for Cancer Research in Houston; Dr. Sidney Farber of the
Children's Cancer Research Hospital in Boston; Dr. Sol Spiegelman of the
Institute for Cancer Research in New York; Dr. Arthur Kornberg of the Stanford
University School of Medicine; Dr. Wendell M. Stanley, Virus Laboratory,
University of California in Berkeley; Dr. Joshua Lederberg of Stanford University;
Dr. Cecil L. Wittson of the University of Nebraska Medical Center; Dr. Solomon
Garb of the University of Missouri; Mr. Walter Reuther, head of the UAW;
Mr. Emerson Foote, former head of McCann-Erickson, and others, with
suitable staff.
conquest of cancer for the Congress of the United States at whatever cost.
They should be entrusted to outline the possibilities for the
Whatever the cost, which would rise as plans developed, the
answer would save 300,000 lives each year -- ten times more than have died
-
in the entire Vietnamese effort in eight years.
The present effort in cancer research from all sources is somewhat
over 200 million dollars, compared with about 5 billion dollars appropriated
for the exploration of outer space.
Exploration of cancer -- inner space -- can
be successful and hundreds of thousands of lives saved each year.
of lives will add to the gross national product and many times pay for the total
This saving
expenditures.
Human agony and tragedy can be reduced and mankind will be in
debt to the United States.
An average of three additional years of life for these 300, 000
annual victims of cancer could be estimated to add at least three billion dollars
to the gross national product through increased earnings and over $450 million
in additional Federal income tax revenue.
Diseases which were considered the "will of God!' have been
conquered in our time.
1946 due to drugs, and polio is almost non -existent due to vaccines.
     Now is the time to make a maximum effort against cancer through
Tuberculosis deaths have declined nearly 90% since
a Presidential Commission for the Conquest of Cancer.
SUGGESTED ADVISORY COMMISSION ON THE CONQUEST OF CANCER
Laurance S. Rockefeller, President, Memorial Hospital, New York
Frank A. Lindsay, President of Itek Corporation. (Was chairman
of President Nixon's Task Force on Science during campaign)
Dr. Sidney Farber, President, American Cancer Society, Boston
General James Gavin, Chairman of the Board, Arthur D. Little, Inc.,
Boston
Dr. R. Lee Clark, Director, M. D. Anderson Institute, Houston
General Alfred M. Gruenther, Former President, American
   Red Cross, Washington, D. C. (Member, President's
    Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke)
Dr. Arthur Kornberg, Chairman, Department of Biochemistry,
Stanford University School of Medicine
Walter Reuther, President, United Auto Workers, Detroit
Dr. Joshua Lederberg, Professor of Genetics, Stanford University
School of Medicine
Leonard Goldenson, President, American Broadcasting Company,
New York. (Trustee, Children's Cancer Research Foundation,
Boston)
Dr. Wendell M. Stanley, Virus Laboratory, University of
C a1 if or nia, Be r ke 1 e y
Emerson Foote, Chairman, Campaign to Check the Population
Explosion, New York. (Former Chairman, National Inter-
agency Council 0x1 Smoking and Health)
Dr. Sol Spiegelman, Institute of Cancer Research, Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons,  New York
Jay Stratton, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Ford Foundation,
New York.
Technology; former Chairman of Committee on Undersea
Research and Development)
(Former President of Massachusetts Institute of
Dr. Charles W. Mayo 11, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
Dr. Howard A. Rusk, Contributing Editor, THE NEW YORK TIMES
Thomas J. Watson, Jr., Chairman of the Board of International
   Business Machines. (Member, Board of Trustees, Sloan-
   Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York)
Dr. Jonas Salk, Salk Institute, La Jolla, California. (Discoverer
of Salk vaccine; now interested in viral factors in cancer
research)
Dr. Frederick Seitz, President of Rockefeller University, New York
Dr James Grace, Director, Roswell Park Memorial Institute for
Cancer Research, Buffalo, New York
J. B. Fisk, President, Bell Telephone Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey
Dr. Solomon Garb, Professor of Pharmacology, University of
   Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri
Emanuel R. Piore, Vice President and Chief Scientist, International
Business Machines. (Member, Board of Trustees, Sloan-
Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York)
Dr. Cecil L. Wittson, President, University of Nebraska Medical
Center, Omaha
Dr. Paul B. Cornely, President, American Public Health Association,
Washington, D. C.
Dr. Rashi Fein, Economist and Manpower Expert, Boston. (Formerly
with Council of Economic Advisors, Brookings Institute, etc. )
SUGGESTED STAFF
Administrative Stephen J. Ackerman, Associate Director, Rehabilitation
Director Services Administration; Lawyer. (Former staff director,
President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke)
Writer
Horace Ogden, U. S. Public Health Service. (Former chief
writer, President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer
and Stroke)