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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-03-29, Page 39Mel Farnsworth, president of the Goderich Branch of the Cancer Society and Marjorie Brown, secretary, discuss the value of _ educational materials provided by the society with John 1 McRibbon of the unit's 'education committee. The unit provides many useful pamphlets and resource material through various outlets. (photo by Dave Sykes) Story of George .. . • from page 4 smoking impairs exer- cise performance. This is especially true for many types of athletic events and activities involving maximal work capacity. The long range effects are, of course, more serious. Men who smoke 10 to 19 cigarettes a day, for example, have a 70 percent higher death rate than nonsmokers. Death rates from coronary heart disease, lung cancer, chronic bron- chitis and emphysema increase with the number of cigarettes smoked and decrease when smoking is discgntinued. CIGARETTE NO. 23 Did he put out., that last cigarette? George huffs and puffs his way up the stairs back to his office because he can't remember whether or not he left a cigarette burning on his desk. Why should he remember? He lights up so many times a day, that he no longer pays attention. In fact, too few smokers pay attention to what they're Page 5 doing. One third of all fires in Canada are caused by smokers. Deaths from careless smoking are alarmingly high. Statistics from a major Canadian city reveal that 52 percent of fire fatalities are related to cigarette smoking. Fortunately for George, and for you, the benefits of quitting are considerable. Beginning immediately after one's last cigarette there is a rapid decline in the level of carbon monoxide in the blood over the first 12 hours. Symptoms of cough, sputum, production, and shortness of breath. usually improve over the next few weeks. Death rates among ex-smokers start to decrease about one year after they stop • smoking. After 10 to 15 years, the chances of developing lung cancer are almost as low as for those who have never smoked. Besides, smoking makes your teeth brown. . Think about it. Give your lungs a fighting chance The lung is our breathing .machine. It draws in air, filters it, separates out , life-giving oxygen for the body's use and expels what is left over — mostly carbon dioxide. The normal adult lung is about the size of a football. When we inhale, air enters the lung through tubes, or passageways, called • bronchi. These bronchi are lined with vibrating, hairlike structures called cilia, • which whip back and forth some 900 times a minute to help keep solid pollut is in the air from en.�> i !'• the lung. The air is carried down through smaller and smaller bronchi until it reaches tiny air sacs which are uniform in size. This is where the oxygen -carbon dioxide exchange takes place. Unfortunately, damage to the lung often takes place before there are any symptoms. Emphysema is a disease which destroys the lung's elasticity, and therefore its ability to inhale and exhale properly. For men only (don'tlook girls) In Canada, more than 40,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in men. Yet- cancer is one ofthe most controllable diseases if it is diagnosed:and treated promptly. What is even more interesting is that the cancers that most frequently occur in men are those that are the most easily detected or prevented. For example, skin cancer is readily identified by a doctor and responds to treatment in over 95 percent of cases. Lung cancer, which unfortunately is almost always fatal, is closely associated with cigarette' smoking and can therefore be prevented in most cases. The same holds true for cancers of the mouth and throat. So you see why we strongly recommend that you do not smoke. • Most cancers of the rectum and intestine can be detected easily if you knoW the signs for this type of cancer and consult your doctor who can perform a :procto' examination. The annual research budget for cancer in Canada now exceeds $20,000,000; of which $11,000,000 is administered under the direction of the National Cancer Institute, the scientific body affiliated with Canadian Cancer Society. Many Canadian scientists have made excellent advandes in both the detection and treatment of cancer. For example, the Cobalt Bomb and the drug V,inblastine, used to treat cancer patients, are both the result of Canadian efforts in this area. A means of 'tracking' cells called Radio- autography has been developed in Canada as well as the CEA Test, still under investigation and used to detect bowel cancer. Canadian studies among veterans have also offered a significant contribution to the mounting evidence against cigarette smoking — one of the most serious of the carcinogenic agents.• The goal of all cancer research, whether. in Canada or worldwide, is -to prevent cancer, but this may take years. So your best bet against this disease is early detection and prompt treatment. You can greatly increase your chances against cancer by reading and practising the Seven Steps to Health. You can help yourself and help us prove that— cancer can be beaten. ". First of all; do not take the attitude that cancer is either inevitable, or fatal in all cases. The fact is that 50 percent of those men who get cancer will survive for at least five years. With all the medical -and treatment skills we have at our disposal today, this percentage could • be much higher — perhaps as high as 80 percent. But it depends almost entirely on early detection and treatment. And this in turn depends on you as well as your doctor. That's why it is so important that you read and follow the Seven Steps to Health listed elsewhere in this• issue. Tissue affected by emphysema can never be repaired or replaced and the disease, progressing, slowly but steadily, turns its victims into respiratory cripples. Patients spend years gasping for breath, and when death comes, it is frequently .. due to an overworked heart. . Emphysema changes the lung's normal ap- pearance. Some of the air sacs burst and collapse, creating tiny craters in the lung, while others balloon in the body's desperate struggle to obtain oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. Fmph.ysema used to be a relatively rare disease, but today it is becoming increasingly common. It has been strongly associated with the cigarette habit because of, the intense air pollution caused by cigarette smoke in the lungs. Cancer ravages the lung with an army of wildly multiplying cells. It begins most often with the constant irritation of the lining of the bronchi by cigarette smoke. Under the onslaught of this irritation, the hairlike cilia which' -filter the air we breathe disappear from the lining of the bronchi. • Although extra mucus is secreted to substitute for • the cilia and - trap pollutants, this mucus itself becomes a problem. It remains trapped until finally forced out of the lining by a "smokers cough". In the -latter stages of lung cancer, abnormal cells break away from the lung and are carried by the lymphatic system to other vital organs, where new cancers begin. Because lung cancer is. difficult to detect early, it is very difficult to treat successfully. It is often fatal. Yet if ,cigarette smoking disappeared entirely, so would 80 percent of lung cancer. It has been said that if the effects of cigarette smoking appeared on our skin instead of in our lungs =,where it can't be seen — no one would smoke.. CANADIAN CANCDI CAN CANCER BE BEATEN? .t YOU BET YOURLIFE IT CANl This Informative publication is brought to you with the kind co-operation of the following GODERICH PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION 104 STORES ROM COAST-TO-COAST CANADIAN OWNED Suncoast Mall GODERICH 1 • T H. E. -: o PRINT Quality Job Printing • SHOP I OFFSET` and LETTERPRESS 36 NEWGATE ST. Phone 524-7862