- the wretched weather that
has plagued most of the world
this year—with hurricanes, floods,
‘Tain, drought and cold — be
‘blamed on the explosions of hy-
drogen bombs?

Some meteorologists say yes.
Others don’t agree.

But in Britain and in Europe
énd in many places in Canada,
one hears the phrase: “It’s atomic
Weather.”

And there’s enough evidence
to cause a great suspicion that
there’s a relationship between H-
bomb explosions and weather con-
ditions that have broken all ex-
isting or known records for: the
_ humber of hurricanes, the amount
of sudden rainfall and the unpre-
€edented cold. (Toronto and
Salerno, Italy, have recently ex-
Perienced flood and hurricane
disasters such as have never oc-
curred before in these areas. The
West has suffered a severe crop
failure following rain, flood and
cold.)
At Canada’s defense. research
Station 12 miles from Ottawa,
Tadioactivity was found in the
_ as recently as September.

_ In the British House of Com-
Mons on November 2 Sir Winston
Churchill warned that “an undue
Number’ of explosions of nuclear
and thermonuclear weapons
‘might have very serious effects”
On the world.
_A Canadian government scien-
tist, commenting on Churcliill’s
Statement, said. that less than
1,000 such blasts would have a
Cumulative effect on the atmos-
Phere that would spell disaster
for the human race. The world
Would be enveloped in a deadly
Tain of radioactive dust in which
hothing could live. .
_ Scientists estimate that accord-
ing to the present knowledge,
Yadioactive dust would “live” for
about 5,000 years.
_ From the first atomic bomb
_ €xplosion in Mexico in 1945 to
last May, there had been offici-
ally announced a total of 56 dif-
ferent atomic and hydrogen
bomb explosions. Of these, 48

British.
e

The Old Farmers’ Almanac for
1955 (just published) which has
been appearing in Boston, Mass.,
continuously for over 200 years,
- Contains an article headed “The
H-Bomb and the Weather.”

It quotes a U.S. Weather Bur-
 €au statement of June 26, 1953,
as declaring:
~ “Nobody can rightly make the
flat statement that there can be
no relationship between the ex-
Plosion of these atomic bombs
and the atmosphere from which
the weather is derived.”

The author; presumably editor
Robert B. Thomas, though the
article is unsigned, brushes aside
the “pap” fed by the U.S. Atomic
: Energy ‘Commission, and writes:

“ven without any ‘unreleased’
or ‘classified’ information in hand
however,, a child of eighth grade
intelligence can now determine
how it is that H-bomb detonation
of March 1 had’the necessary in-
Sredient of size to become a
Major weather factor. af
“Phe atomic explosion at Hiro-
‘Shima (in 1945), is said to have
contained something like a 200
ton TNT equivalent. It was to

-ferring in its minimization of
Weather effect.

- detonation mention between ten
‘and twenty millions of tons of
T equivalence.

Thus it will be seen that if, as

Stated, ‘1000 atomic bombs of the
— Hiroshima size per minute would
Match the kinetic energy of a
Moderate sized hurricane,’ then
-8n explosion of the H-bomb size
(ten million tons) every ten weeks
might conceivably keep rain
Pouring, or cause drought, the
World over the whole year round.
- “For example, if we use an-

Were U.S., five Soviet, and three ©

atomic detonations of this order
the U.S. Weather Bureau was re-

But press state-
ments with regard to our H-bomb

the U.S. Weather Bureau has

= = SS S SSAA $s SS
This Canadian weather ship is maintained 1000 miles out in the Pacific by the Department

\

s SS

SS

of Transport. ;

Atomic weather

- other measurement — that of
area affected — it will be seen.

that our March 1 explosion is

‘comparable to the Indian Archi-

ra

pelago earthquake of April 5,
1815, which extended over 1000
square miles, and completely ob-
scured the sun for 12 long days.

“Whether or not it was the stra-
tospheric cloud from this quake
which produced the now famous
cold summer of 1816, no one
can say — but we do know that
smoke from forest fires in West-
ern Canada in September, 1950,
covered the United States, Can-
ada, and Europe . . . with a con-
sequent lowering of temperatures

on September 25-26 of five to ten.

degrees. We know that the erup-
tion at Fogo Island on June 125
1951, is said to have reduced
radiation at Appalachicola, Flor-
ida, from 96 to 88 percent of nor-
mal and that the famous 1883
Krakatoa. volcanic eruption, form-
ing a pine tree, mushroom, um-
brella shaped cloud some 20 miles

This target, carried aloft by a
balloon, is tracked by radar to
plot the course of. upper winds.

‘ parently

_ tection,

‘

high not only spread its ash all

over the world but actually de-
creased radiation at Montpelier,
France, by ten percent for three

\ years.

“There are numerous, in addi-
tion to those quoted, scientifically
observed examples of the weather
pattern which might be expected
from an explosion of H-bomb
size. But even the radioactive
dust ‘fallout’ from A-bomb ex-
plosions — recorded all over the

United States—is sufficient cause
for real alarm.

“But to return to what we have
politely called ‘pap’ from official-
dom, we cannot agree that our
March 1 H-bomb was ‘at no time
out of control.’ It must be per-
fectly obvious to anyone that just
as soon as the dust from that
bomb entered our stratosphere it
was beyond all recall or direc-

tion.

“From there on out no one can
conceivably argue that it did not
become a major factor in present
day weather making processes—
what sort of factor, except pos-
sibly harmful and dangerous, no-
body alive can say.”

The writer warns especially of
what could happen if radioactive -
dust were to find its way into tor-
nadoes and hurricanes.

What hope is there
for cancer victims ?

By JOHN STACHEL

A Rae great mystery of cancer has
not yet been solved. Why ap-
“normal” body cells
start to grow and multiply wildly,
causing death if not checked, is
the question researchers all over
the world are working to answer.
When they do, we will be on the
inate taming cancer as a killer,
just as other deadly diseases have
been tamed in the past.

But ‘what hope is there for
victims of cancer today? In the
absence of sure-fire ways to pre-
vent cancer, or to cure it, what
has science to offer?

Last. week I discussed some of
the possible, factors bringing on
a, cancer and their elimination.
But the major weapons in fight-
ing cancer today are early de-
and destruction of the
eancer by radiation or surgery.

. At the recent International

Cancer Congress in Brazil, the
Soviet delegation startled many
with its report on the high rate
of cures being achieved in the
WSshias :

pr. A. Savitsky of the Soviet

© Academy of Medical Science said
* that 65 percent of cancer cases

were being cured in the Russian
federated Republic. This is
about double ‘he rate of cure
good hospitals in this countrv
get. .

Behind this achievement lies
the Soviet law requiring periodic
compulsory examinations of ali
citizens. Under this law 10 mil-
lion people were examined for
cancer in 1953 alone. This re-
sulted in a much higher rate of
early cases being diagnosed, as
well as many, pre-cancerous con-
ditions which could turn into

~ eancer if untreated.

Today it is felt no single fac-
tor is more important in helping
a cancer victim than early diag-

nosis. Dr. Charles Cameron of
the American Cancer Society
stated last year that we could
cure half of our cancer patients
today, but only half of that half
get to the doctor in time.

® pat

Much research is being carried
on to devise tests to catch cancer
symptoms at the earliest possible
point. ;

One of the most promising de-
velopmients is the Papanicolaou
smear technique.

Dr. George N. Papanicolaou of
Cornell found that a cancer
causes certain cells to undergo
changes which can be made visi-
ble by staining them with a
special dye. Examination of stain-
‘ed ceils from the bodily’ secre-
tions will reveal such changes,
allowing a very early diagnosis.

This test is particularly help-
ful in catching’ uferine eancers,
one of the most common and
dangerous types among women.

Examining cells individually by
microscope has been such a slow
process as to prevent real mass
use of this technique. But now
work is in progress on a cytoan-
alyzer, which will use another
development of modern science,
electronic engineering, to do
automatic mass-testing with the
Papanicolaou method.

Once a cancer is discovered,
the job is to destroy it.

The most efficient method
known today is to remove the
cancerous growth by surgery. But

this can only be done in certain ©

cases. The cancer must be in a
spot accessible to the knife, and
it must be caught early enough
before it has started to spread
through the body. If such com-
plete removal is possible, there
is a cure. _ ne

If the cancer is so placed that

¥

it cannot be cut out, treatment by

some form of radiation may be
possible. Up until a few years
ago, X-rays were the main form
of radiation used.

They kill healthy cells‘ and can-
cerous cells alike, so great care
must be taken to direct them at
just the spot where the diseased
tissue is.

However, X-rays are bound to
do a certain amount of damage
to healthy tissues, and medical
researchers have been studying
other forms of radiation in the
last few years, to find some type
more deadly to cancer cells and
less dangerous to normal cells.
- Experiments with fast streams
ot tiny sub-atomic particles, such
as protons (neutrons, alpha-par-
ticles, etc.) are proving effective
in many cases, and will undoubt-
edly come into more general use
as more atom-smashers, which
furnish these particles, are built
for hospitals.

Uu to now military work on
A-bombs and H-bombs has ab-
sorbed most of these machines.
o ° :
But both the methods ‘of surg-
ery and these of radiation leave
scientists unsatisfied.

They save many lives, and of
course their use must be expand-
ed with the present unsatisfac-
tory state of fundamental know-.
ledge about cancer. But they do
not really come to grips with
the problem. —

They could be compared with
the methods once used, of ampu-
tating “or burning an infected
arm or leg to save the patient.

What is really needed is some
method of getting at the cancer,
in the way that sulfa drugs or
penicillin get to grips with in-
fection. That is, discovering
some chemical, some virus, some
method of affecting the nature
of the cancer cell, which can get

Concluded on next page

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 19, 1954 — PAGE 9