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Cancerphc > i /? with jact By Ellen Goodman The Boston OMw BOSTON ? It's a bit like trying to punch Jello-O, but three National Cancer Institute researchers have recently been lighting the Laetrile lobby on its own turf. In the latest New England Journal ol Medicine, they report that they sent out 445,(XX letters in pursuit of the "cured," but receivec only 230 references and only 67 cases wortl reviewing. Of these, they saw only six case! which suggested any link ? coincidental or no ? between I^aetrile and the decreased size of i tumor. Still, I hope the researchers, even with theii convictions in the power of facts to sway th< human mind, aren t waiting around tor i sudden decline in the commodities market 01 apricots. From my own experience with Laetrile believers, the important word is "believe.' There is a communications gap between th< scientific community and the Laetrile ad vocates the size of a Great Leap of Faith. One ii seeking proof and the other is seeking hope. But then, few of us are talking scientific language when we're speaking of cancer Among the medically aware, cancer is j ? i 1 1 i i? . i _ l i r general, anu mayue misleading, laoei ior ; range of diseases, from the minor to the tei minal. But to the general community, cancer i a buzz word for the kind of death that hide under the obituary column phrase, "... after long illness." To most of us it is a vague, amorphou science-fiction sort of thing which grows large and larger, threatening to gobble up the neigl borhood theater at any moment. I won't make light of our cancerphobia. I ai as much a victim of it as the next, and s UfAAfltr Allnn " T 1 I ?_ ??wujr ruicu uhcc wiuic, ?jum utxitust; yuu I paranoid doesn't mean that there isn't someor out to get you/' Cancer is real, and it kills. Yet, it seems to me that, in a curious wa; each generation chooses its dominant fear froi r j Come ^ T\n /v A' /v Irk 4" tubus, j tyrtu : or hope ? some top ten list. Out of the available terrors ? war. Destilence. famine, disease ? there is i always one that seems to dominate our i children's nightmares and color our adult s humor black. There is a fear that fits the times. When I was growing up in the 1950s, it was 1 The Bomb. This thing, The Bomb, belonged to a J generation of war babies presided over by a 1 general-president in the midst of a cold war. 1 It was a time of massive conformity with its * concomitant fear of massive destruction. As 1 school children, we were regularly and 1 hurriedly ushered into basements with CD wall plaques. Our adolescent nighttime con[ frontations with the idea of death came 3 prepackaged in mushroom shapes. ' But we are fickle even about fear. We seem to 1 have dropped our Bombphobia now without, in any way, reducing the reasons for it. Cancer ; now leads this macabre Hit Parade. Thp miHH1p.si7AH philHrpn T Irnnw coom fn 3 think bleakly that death comes, not with a bang but with a tumor. Cancer is the terror of adults 5 who are more focused on their private lives and, therefore, their private deaths. c Cancer is the obsessions of people who sense that disaster may not be a purposeful ina strument of public policy but a matter of acf cidental, random carelessnc s. It's the phobia that fits the age of environmentalism. We worry more about PCB than about s Ground Zero. If there were a 1970s version of n ,i/v .. ? .... *un tne iieacn, it would take place near a small chemical plant in New Jersey or in a s, back yard in Niagara Falls. t Whatever it is that motivated one group of i- seek safety in the bowels of a home bomfc shelter sees another group sending people tc n seek a cure in the pits of apricots. As they sit is there, in the realm of false hope, they are waj e out of reach of such dubious totems of scienc* le as "the facts." y (c) 1978, The Boston Globe Newspaper Com pany ? Washington Post Writers Group EYE ANMA ROSH ^ ^ I ; J I *TC1T ( i -Jp I V'" V; % ; ' $ V,> " - * . ^ ^ 1 A 1 . black t acuity lack numbers To the Editor: There is a growing concern amongst the black student population over the shortage of black faculty members and other black administrators here at the university. I am particularly concenied with the firing and hiring practices here at the University. For example, I am in search of an answer as to why the trend has been to not replace those blacks who either leave or who are fired with other black instructors. Moreover, why are there no key black administrators (i.e. decision making capacity). While the black student population has shown significant growth, the black faculty numbers have, at best, remained stable with a decrease in some instances. This raises a number of serious questions. For example, can it be said that there are no competent black instructors; is there really an "affirmative" action program; and is equal opportunity really being enforced here at the University of South Carolina? I am very critical of the proportion of black faculty members and black administrators, as related to the proportion of black students. The black students on this campus represent about 14 percent of the entire student Domilation. However, out of morp than i nnn fn^nlfv onH aH. ministrators, blacks represent about 1 percent or less. In closing, I only wish to articulate my deep hope that this situation be looked into. I feel that not to do so would be undemocratic. Nathaniel Smith Jr. President, Association of Afro-American students Prisoner wants writer To the Editor: n? m?a.? 01 ?J ?... may name is nugci v/iayiun oiora ana i am a teaerai prisoner incarcerated at the federal prison in Morgan town, W. Va. 1 am writing this letter in the hope that you might be able to help me find someone to correspond with. I am twenty-five years old and I've been in prison for five years now. I have no family and I have long since lost contact with old friends. I would very much appreciate it if you could perhaps print this letter in the student paper or put it on a bulletin board. > I would be interested in corresponding with anyone of any age, race or sex. My interests are reading, weight lifting, writing poetry and exchanging thoughts and ideas with other people. t Ami "-i " " - - ^ ijr jruu wan give me in uns maiier wm greauy appreciated. 5 SINCERELY, ROGER CLAYTON SLORA NO. 00801-103 C-UNIT BOX 1000 MORGANTOWN, W. VA. 26505 ?r PamecQck rjrvB i ? 0 \/j Mark J. Lundgrer Editor In Chief NCC\r\ , , ?P DonFobes Wire Editor t Jim Phillips News Editor i*"** ^ Barry J. Glenn Entertainment Editor l\ ? 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