§ 46. Mr. Spriggsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will give details of the latest information about the causes and treatment of cancer; whether this disease is notifiable; to what extent it and its causes are discussed by the World Health Organisation; and what is the rate of progress made in the United Kingdom against this disease.
§ Sir K. JosephCancer is a group of diseases which have certain characteristics in common but each of which has its own singular features. The causes of cancer are imperfectly understood though the factors involved in the case246W of certain forms have been identified. The treatment of cancer varies with the type and extent of the disease in the individual patient. The accepted methods are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, or combinations of these forms of treatment. Cancer is not statutorily notifiable but detailed statistics obtained through a voluntary system of registration are compiled by cancer registries, which function in every hospital region. These statistics are collated nationally and published by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.
Research into both causation and treatment is being pursued intensively both here and in other countries. Collaborative international research is promoted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer established in 1965 under the aegis of the World Health Organisation. This country is one of the 10 member States of the agency. The United Kingdom Cancer Co-ordinating Committee also keeps in close touch with international developments and in particular those relating to the increased cancer effort in the United States.
The statistical evidence available has shown that if cancer of the lung is excluded and the incidence of the disease at all other sites is taken together, the chance of an individual dying of cancer has been declining for many years. While the statistics can do no more than reflect the broad effect of changing conditions they demonstrate the marked increase in success in the treatment of patients with many forms of cancer achieved over the last 10 to 15 years. However, intractable problems still remain and gradual progress, rather than any single dramatic solution, is likely to be the pattern for future developments.