Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-09-08
Frequency Of Cancer
Linked to Types Of Soil
Lower Rote Found in Areas
Supplied BY Well Water

SuppIled Dy well WuteT
By Thomas R. Henry
establishment Of an international
research center to study the relation
Of soil, weather and water to disease,
especially cancer. was urged before the
international Congress Of Clinical
Pathology here by DR.. s. w. Tromp.
Netherlands delegate.
Man, he said, Is an organism deli
cately adjusted to his environment and
apparently minor differences may have
a big influence on death rates.
The Dutch doctor cited an apparent
relationship between frequency Of can
Ger and type Of soil. based on q 15-year
study Of the cancer rate in different
parts Of his own small country.
A thousand Netherlands towns and
villages were classified according to "a
soil types determined by chemists. For
each group Of communities located on
q particular kind of soil the average
yearly cancer death was computed for
40 years. It was found that for each
decade the rates were considerably
higher for communities on reclaimed
peat soils. It made no difference wheth-
er the communities were rural or ur-
ban.
Water Content Considered.
The difference, DR.. Tromp said, must
be due to different proportions of ele-
ments from the soil that are taken up
by vegetables and get into drinking
water. There Is some evidence that
communities whose drinking water con-
tains excuses of cobalt. magnesium.
manganese and sodium have some
what lower cancer rate than those
whose water contains much silicon.
Lowest rates were found in commune
ties supplied by well water, highest
where the water came from rivers.
All the cancer deaths considered in
the statistics were of persons over SO.
They naturally would be higher in an
older than younger community.
The soil-cancer study, DR.. Tromp
said, gives some support to thesis
previously advanced by the late DR..
Raymond Pearl Of Johns Hopkins that
there is an antagonism between can
Ger and tuberculosis. This antagonism,
other studies have shown, may extend
to other infections such as syphilis.
erysipelas and leprosy.
Cancer is considerably rarer in per-
sons who have suffered from any Of
these diseases and, with the exception
of cancer of the lung, which Is a rela-
lively new condition, the two almost
never are found in the same organ.
There has been some success in slowing
growth of cancers in mice by injection
of tuberculosis germs.
In the Netherlands survey cancer
death rates generally were low where
those from tuberculosis were high, DR..
Tromp and his associates found. He
urged that comparable studies be car
ried out in other countries.
Angina pectoris. one of the major
fatal heart maladies Of this generation
and by far the most painful, seems to
be disease of soft living.
This thesis, based on extensive
British mortality statistics, was pre-
sented before the Congress by DR..
Percy Stocks, Welsh heart specialist.
The records show, he said. that deaths
from this particular condition form a
much lower percentage Of all British
deaths from degenerative heart dis
eases-in Western Europe as in the
United States the most rapidly in
creasing causes of mortality-among
the laboring classes than among the
professions.
Fewer Among Laborers.
Figures for two years. for example.
show that angina pectoris caused only
a seventh of the heart deaths among
coal miners. dock and farm laborers
but accounted for nearly half such
deaths among teachers, bankers and
business administrators Of all sorts.
London bus conductors, who are al
most continually walking as they col
lect fares, have much fewer angina
cases than bus drivers who are always
seated. Mail carriers have lower rate
than telephone operators.
In a study of the histories Of PEN
sioners of World War I, 1t was found
that, although no difference could be
shown for the incidence of the whole
spectrum of degenerative heart dis
eases, men who had lost one leg showed
a higher proportion of angina cases
than those who had suffered other
wounds. A recent analysis Of Cambridge
graduates showed that those who had
taken part in college sports died less
frequently from all kinds Of heart
maladies in after life than other
students.
Continued habits Of regular exercise.
DR.. Stocks said, may tend to prevent
or postpone occlusion of large branches
of the heart arteries.