Evening star., 1951-09-12
japan Population Rising
At Rate Of 5 1000 q Day
War Cost in Humon Lives
Long Since Made Up
By Thomos R. Henry

The population of Japan now is in
creasing at rate of 5000 day.
At the end of the war in 1945 there
were 80 million human beings crowded
on the japanese Islands. There are
now SO million. The actual cost Of the
war in human lives was almost negligible
and long since has been made up.
The japanese birth rate remains at
"a thousand year. If nothing hap
pens to stop the progression, a popula-
ton of nearly ITO million can be ex-
pected in little more than 80 years.
Already there are more than 5000 per-
sons per square mile of arabic land.
These are the findings of Robert C.
Cook, acting editor of the bulletin Of
the Population Reference Bureau.
Before the war Japan was a thor
oughly up-to-date country, so far as
life-saving techniques were concerned.
A big population was encouraged be-
cause of the empires imperialistic
ambitions.
During the war occurred some of the
major medical advances of all time.
Allied occupation authorities moved in
with one of their major objections that
of repairing the war damage with a
public health and relief program Mod
ern death control techniques were ap-
piled with unprecedented success. The
new techniques rendered possible a
great reduction in infant mortality,
while, as is usual everywhere after q
great war, the birth rate shot up.
Drop in Death Rate.
KEx CnnIy n,,ofac Cax no,,-Io, HKoo
Arthur as saying that the population
pressure now is so acute that 80 million
japanese would starve to death if inn
ports of food from the United States
were discontinued. The Japanese people
themselves are well aware of their plight,
he points out, but they do not know
what to do about it.
A major factor, Mr.. Cook explains,
is the enormous drop in the death rate.
During the five years since the war it
has fallen from 90 to IL thousand
a decline of three-fifths. It took the
United States 20 years to halve the
death rate in Puerto Rico, which also
has serious population pressure.
Finding of a hitherto unknown
biochemical property in cancer tissues
which may lead to a more rational ap-
proach to chemical treatment of malig-
nant tumors has been announced to the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Science by Drs. Christopher
Carruthers and Valentino Suntzeff of
the Washington University School of
Medicine
From skins of mice and men and from
muscles and ivers of mice they have
hooY1 ohlc fn oyf ~ fiTaidorfifod ctJi~-
stance which amounts to from 01 to 02
per cent of the fresh tissue. The same
substance probably is present in other
animal tissues and its function is un-
known. Among its properties is that Of
absorbing certain specific wave-lengthS
of ultraviolet light.
Change in Chemical Process.
1t also can be extracted from skin
cancers of men and from malignant
muscle and liver cancers of mice. But
it has undergone certain radical chemi-
cal changes, the investigators say.
Among these is that of ultraviolet light
absorption. The indications are that the
molecule of the mysterious substance
has been split, probably by the action
of one of the body chemicals known
as engines.
This cleavage, Drs Carruthers and
Suntzef report. would seem to be
common phenomenon of malignancy
and possibly the thing which initiates
the cancer process. The finding is
significant as chemical difference be-
tween normal and malignant tissue
which it now is possible to demonstrate.
What is due to chemical process may
loo reversed nv chemical nrOcpSS and
there is some evidence that this par
ticular one actually is reversible.
The Washington University investiga-
tors report other very complex chemical
differences between the substance as it
occurs in normal and in malignant cells.
The nature of the alteration, they say.
suggests that it occurs antecedent to, or
concomitantly with, the cleavage that
occurs in cancer cells.