Cancer Deaths

In its first attempt to decipher Maryland's high cancer death rate, the state health department has found that tobacco is a culprit without rivals.Health Secretary Martin P. Wasserman said yesterday that tobacco was a factor behind 41 percent of all cancer deaths in the state between 1987 and 1991.The leaf looms so large because it is the major cause of lung cancer -- which alone accounted for more than a quarter of all cancer deaths -- and is also implicated in malignancies of the pancreas, esophagus, bladder, throat and cervix.

Maryland has dropped from second to third place in the American Cancer Society's annual ranking of cancer death rates in the 50 states, a change that owes more to Louisiana's worsening toll than to major improvements here.The cancer mortality rate dropped by one death per 100,000 people -- a difference that is not considered statistically significant. In the meantime, Louisiana's rate grew by a slightly larger degree, giving that state the dubious distinction of ranking second to Delaware.

There's never a shortage of health crises -- cancer, AIDS, infant mortality, obesity, a resurgence of tuberculosis.Some stay in the public consciousness for years, even decades. Others burst on the scene then disappear.Remember radon?Before 1985, most people had never heard of it. Then suddenly, the public was bombarded with studies, stories and scary statistics. Brochures from legions of new testing companies warned that the gas causes lung cancer at certain levels.The hysteria quickly passed.

A new study has found evidence that regular aspirin use reduces the risk of getting colorectal cancer, but researchers say there are still too many questions for them to recommend taking it regularly."

In an attempt to find causes for the high rate of cancer deaths among Anne Arundel County residents, the County Council last night approved a resolution creating a task force to study the problem.The task force, an idea conceived by Councilwoman Diane Evans and the Greater Severna Park Council, will bring together 15 people who either live or work in the county to gather and study data on cancer in Anne Arundel. They will work with Dr. Katherine Farrell, deputy county health officer, who is a specialist in environmental health.

Los Angeles. -- When President Clinton had his first opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court Justice last year, he dithered for three months. By mid-June, when the indecision was becoming an embarrassment, Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers confirmed that the choice had narrowed to two people: Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Stephen G. Breyer, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston.Judge Breyer's nomination was imminent, White House sources were saying, when suddenly President Clinton named Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The sharp decline in deaths from cardiovascular disease in the United States during the past two decades has been accompanied by an unexpected increase in the overall incidence of cancer and cancer deaths among people over 55, researchers say.White men born during the baby boom of 1948-57 have non-smoking-related cancer rates three times as high as their grandfathers, but the rate of cardiovascular disease has fallen by 43 percent, a government research team...

Maryland has retained its distinction as the state with the second-highest cancer death rate in the nation, trailing neighboring Delaware by a slim margin.The mid-Atlantic region's hold on cancer death is particularly striking when Washington is added to the picture. There, 230 out of every 100,000 inhabitants die of cancer each year, a rate exceeding that of any state.Maryland's other neighbors -- Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia -- also have cancer death rates among the top 10.Statistics comparing cancer deaths rates across the United States appear in Cancer Facts & Figures-1994, released yesterday by the National Cancer Society.

Women who are teachers, religion workers or librarians have a significantly greater chance of dying from breast cancer than homemakers or other women in nonprofessional occupations, according to a federal study to be released today.The study, which has already prompted special campaigns from two major teachers' groups, is the first to link breast cancer deaths with occupation on a large scale.Carol Hogfoss Rubin, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said her findings do not indicate that the occupations themselves are causing breast cancer, but rather that other outside factors associated with them -- such as delayed childbearing -- may be to blame.

After decades of debate and inconclusive findings, a major new study has shown that a yearly test can significantly reduce deaths from colon and rectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths among Americans.In the 13-year study, those in a group randomly chosen to undergo annual tests for blood in their stools experienced 33 percent fewer deaths from cancers of the colon and rectum than did those in a similar group who were not offered the test.The study, conducted among 46,551 Minnesota residents, showed that the screening test could detect colorectal cancer at an early and curable stage, before symptoms were apparent.