"SEC. 401. (a) There is hereby established within the Office of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service a National Cancer Commission (hereinafter in this title referred to as the 'Commission'), to consist of fourteen members to be appointed by the President. Twelve of the members shall be outstanding persons who have wide experience and demonstrated competence in scientific matters, and six of such twelve shall be selected from leading authorities in the study, diagnosis, or treatment of cancer. Such twelve persons shall be selected without regard to their political affiliations and solely on the basis of their demonstrated capacity to carry out the functions of the Commission. Of the other two members of the Commission one shall serve as its executive officer and one shall be a representative of the Veterans' Administration. "(b) Each member of the Commission, other than the executive officer and the representative of the Veterans' Administration, shall hold office for a term of three years, except that any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for the remainder of such term, and except that of the members first appointed four shall hold office for a term of two years and four for a term of one year, as designated by the President. None of such twelve members shall be eligible for reappointment until a year has elapsed since the end of his preceding term, and none of such members shall be eligible for more than one reappointment. The executive officer and the representative of the Veterans' Administration shall each hold office at the will of the President. "(c). The Commission shall annually elect a chairman from among its members. The Commission is authorized to adopt rules governing the calling and the conduct of its meetings, and to create such committees from among its members as it shall see fit. The Commission is authorized to delegate to an executive committee, or to the executive officer, such of its powers, duties, and functions as it shall see fit; and, with the approval of the Surgeon General, to delegate administrative functions to officers of the Service. The executive officer shall not be entitled to vote at meetings of the Commission.

"(d) In discharging its functions under this title the Commission shall be responsible directly to the Surgeon General. The National Cancer Institute shall be administered under the direction of the Commission; and the Commission may utilize the Institute in such manner, and may delegate to the Institute such powers, duties, and functions as the Commission may see fit.

"SEC. 402. Subject to the provisions of section 401 (d), the National Cancer Commission shall have all the authority granted to the Surgeon General under section 301 with respect to cancer and such Commission is authorized to

"(a) conduct, assist, and foster researches, investigations, experiments, and studies, in the United States or other countries, relating to the cause, prevention, and methods of diagnosis and treatment of cancer;

"(b) make grants-in-aid to individuals in the United States or other countries, and to universities, hospitals, laboratories, and other public or private institutions for research projects relating to the cause, prevention, and methods of diagnosis and treatment of cancer, including grants to such institutions, to the extent necessary for such research projects, for the construction, acquisition, and leasing of hospital, clinic, laboratory, and related facilities, including the purchase of land necessary therefor;

"(c) collect information as to studies being carried on in the United States and in other countries in the field of cancer and, with the approval of the Surgeon General, make available such information through approprivate publications for the benefit of health and welfare agencies or organizations (public or private), physicians, or any other scientists, and for the information of the general public;

"(d) promote the coordination of researches conducted by it and similar researches conducted by other agencies, organizations, and individuals; "(e) (1) provide training and instructions, in matters relating to the cause, prevention, and methods of diagnosis and treatment of cancer, to persons from the United States and from other coutries, found by it to have proper qualifications, and fix and pay to any of such persons as it may designate a per diem allowance during such training and instruction of not to exceed $10; and (2) provide such training and instruction through grants to publie and other non

profit institutions, including grants to such institutions for the construction, acquisition, and leasing of hospital, clinic, laboratory, and related facilities, to the extent necessary for the purposes of such training and instructions;

(f) provide fellowships in the Public Health Service for work in the field of

cancer;

"(g) secure the services and advice of cancer experts from the United States and abroad;

"(h) recommend to the Surgeon General for acceptance conditional gifts pursuant to section 501 of this Act.

"SEC. 403. The Surgeon General shall recommend acceptance of conditional gifts purusuant to section 501 of this Act, for study, investigation, or research into the cause, prevention, and methods of diagnosis and treatment of cancer, or for the acquisition of grounds or for the erection, equipment, or maintenance of premises, buildings, or equipment of the Institute, only upon the recommendation of the National Cancer Commission. Donations of $50,000 or over in aid of research under this title may be acknowledged by the establishment within the Service of suitable memorials to the donors.

"SEC. 404. All appropriations to carry out the purposes of this title shall be available for the acquisition of land and the erection of buildings, personal services in the District of Columbia, stenographic recording and translating services, by contract if deemed necessary, without regard to section 3709 of the Revised Statutes; traveling expenses (including the expenses of attendance at meetings when specifically authorized by the Commission); rental, supplies, and equipment, purchase and exchange of medical books, books of reference, directories, periodicals, newspapers, and press clippings; purchase, operation, and maintenance of motorpropelled passenger-carrying vehicles; printing and binding (in addition to that otherwise provided by law); and for all other necessary expenses in carrying out the provisions of this title."

SEC. 4. (a) Section 209 (c) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows:

"(c) Members of the National Advisory Health Council, members of the National Advisory Mental Health Council, and members of the National Cancer Commission, other than members who are officers and employees of the United States, shall be entitled, while attending conferences or meetings of the respective bodies or while otherwise serving at the request of the Surgeon General, to receive compensation at a rate to be fixed by the Administrator, but not exceeding $25 per diem in the case of members of either of the Councils and not exceeding $50 per diem in the case of members of the Commission. All members of either of such Councils and all members of such Commission whether or not they are in the employ of the United States, shall also be entitled, while so serving away from their places of residence, to receive an allowance for actual and necessary traveling and subsistence expenses."

(b) Section 217 of such Act is amended by amending the caption thereof to read "NATIONAL ADVISORY HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH COUNCILS"; by striking out in subsection (f) "of the National Advisory Cancer Council or"; and by striking out subsection (c). The National Advisory Cancer Council is abolished.

(c) Section 301 of such Act is amended by striking out in subsection (d) “or, with respect to cancer, recommended by the National Advisory Cancer Council."; and by striking out in subsection (g) "or, with, respect to cancer, upon recommendation of the National Advisory Cancer Council.".

(d) This section shall be effective on October 1, 1946. The original members of the National Cancer Commission shall take office on October 1, 1946, but may be appointed before that date.

SEC. 5. The authorization, contained in section 2 of this Act, of appropriations to carry out the purposes of this Act shall not be construed to repeal or to limitany other authorization, express or implied, of appropriations to carry out the functions of the Public Health Service; but no appropriation to carry out the purposes of Title IV of the Public Health Service Act, as amended, other than an appropriation pursuant to section 2 of this Act, shall be recommended by the Surgeon General or the Federal Security Administrator except with the approval of the National Cancer Commission.

Senator PEPPER. Thank you very much.

The next witness is Dr. Halsey J. Bagg, of Memorial Hospital, New York City.

STATEMENT OF DR. HALSEY J. BAGG, DIRECTOR, BAGG RESEARCH LABORATORY, YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N. Y.

Dr. BAGG. I would like to make a correction of the program, Senator. I am not with the Memorial Hospital now. I am director of my own research laboratory, the Bagg Research Laboratory, at Yorktown Heights, N. Y.

Senator PEPPER. I want to say to the witnesses that we will be obliged if those of you who have prepared statements will file them for the record and summarize your principal recommendations in this matter, because we have a full list of witnesses here today and I am afraid that we are going to have to adjourn before long.

Dr. BAGG. This is a brief summary of my remarks, Mr. Chairman. I welcome the opportunity to appear in support of the cancer research bill, S. 1875.

I feel that the need for Government support of aid for the cancer patient is of vital importance and warrants the approval of Congress to as full an extent as is possible. The present bill meets these requirements and has my fullest recommendation.

We all know the importance of the tremendous problem that cancer presents to our people. The problem is too large to be undertaken by private effort alone, and we must look to the Government for aid. Workers in the field of cancer research have been greatly handicapped by the lack of funds to insure a reasonable continuity of their efforts. The bill you have under consideration will meet those requirements and encourage younger scientists to enter this special field.

In my judgment, advancement in cancer research can be insured by training of medical men-first, to observe the life history of the various types of cancer, and, second, to be able to evaluate and put to the test any clinical suggestions that the work of the laboratory may give.

I feel that the establishment of cancer centers is the best way to bring about these results. In such centers the work of the clinician can be supplemented or led by the results of the research of the biologist, chemist, physicist, or others who may be working in the field.

I realize that the bill, S. 1875, was not drawn with a view to provide funds for treating all cancer patients. However, I feel that it is of importance to stress the fact that funds should be available under the provisions of the bill to provide for the treatment and care of certain selected types of cancer in patients insofar as their study may lead to advance in clinical cancer research.

If the bill under consideration is voted upon favorably it is my personal opinion that the United States Public Health Service might very well act as the center around which the entire program could be expanded.

As a biologist who has worked in the field of cancer research for many years, I feel that the problem of malignant growth presents perhaps the most difficult medical problem of our day; a problem as complicated as life itself.

Senator PEPPER. Thank you very much, Doctor, for coming and giving us the benefit of your views.

Our next witness is Dr. C. P. Rhoads, director, Memorial Hospital, New York City.

STATEMENT OF DR. C. P. RHOADS, DIRECTOR OF MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOR CANCER AND ALLIED DISEASES, NEW YORK, N. Y.; PROFESSOR OF PATHOLOGY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE; DIRECTOR OF SLOAN-KETTERING INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH, NEW YORK CITY

Senator PEPPER. Dr. Rhoads, we all know of your distinguished service, and we are glad to have you here today.

Dr. RHOADS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The bill under consideration today proposes the expenditure of $100,000,000 to support a comprehensive international attack, through research, on the cancer problem. If this were done it is almost certain that advances would follow which would expedite the eventual solution.

To expand effectively a sum as large as the one specified is not easy, however. Productive research requires experience, organization, equipment, and personnel; needs which cannot be emphasized too strongly.

The public now has learned, through the revolutionary achievements of wartime research, that money can be so spent as to expedite the solution of important problems, many of them previously thought to be insoluble. Unfortunately, the factor of money has been so overemphasized that many have come to believe that it is the only important one. We tend to forget that money without the qualified and devoted scientific men and women, working in a proper organization, is worse than useless. Without personnel, equipment, and policy based on scientific experience only bitter disillusionment can result from an effort as extensive as the one proposed.

Recall that there exist at this moment upward of 500,000 individuals who actually have cancer, and think of those who are near and dear to them who are awaiting with vital interest the course of this bill. I do not believe we can dismiss these responsibilities lightly.

The problem of expending wisely and productively public funds to meet an emergency in research has been faced repeatedly by the Government of this country. Eighty years ago Congress created the National Academy of Sciences to mobilize scientific talent in the aid of the Government. This body functioned with distinction. It later became a great honorary scientific organization, electing to membership accomplished men on the basis of merit without regard to organization or geographic affiliation. It is now the great impartial reference source of scientific advice and information.

In 1916, with World War I, there came again the need, more acute because of the rapidly widening application of science, for the mobilization of the wisdom of the great research workers of the country. To meet this need required an agency of a more comprehensive type than the one provided by a purely honorary organization, the National Academy. There was created, therefore, under the Academy, the National Research Council, composed of representatives of almost every scientific organization in the country. The Council organized the research for our First World War Army and left a distinguished record in every learned field, including the medical.

With World War II the need for scientific aid was obviously preeminent. This country, like our allies, clearly would stand or fall

on the basis of the technical competence of its professional research workers. Once more the aid of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences was invoked. Once more its record is a notable one. Over 70 committees composed of the most distinguished specialists, were created. The knowledge possessed by these individuals was brought to bear vitally on every aspect of our military activity. The advice provided by them defined our policies, civil as well as military, concerning blood plasma and blood transfusion, control of infectious disease, adequate nutrition for troops, the eradication of those disease-bearing insects which threatened our ability to carry on in the tropics, and, perhaps the most notable accomplishment, our development of adequate measures for the cure of malaria and the rehabilitation of the wounded. The record speaks for itself.

Toward the end of the war those interested in maintaining, for the solution of peacetime scientific problems, the type of organizational research pattern proved to be so effective during the war, turned again to the National Research Council. Cancer was deemed to be a problem of prime importance, and the public was already demanding that an all-out effort be undertaken. Money was being made available and the donors were properly insistent that action be instituted. The American Cancer Society raised $4,000,000 in 1945, during the war, and this year during the past few months an estimated $12,000,000. Of these sums 30 percent must, by the public commitment, be expended in support of cancer research.

The American Cancer Society has a vital obligation to the public. It was essential that the most effective and responsible mechanism be evoked to expend the funds collected for the support of research. It turned logically to the National Research Council, the organization proved by the trying experience of wartime to be the most effective.

By contract between the society and the National Academy of Sciences there was created in June 1945, under the National Research Council a committee to advise the society on the spending of its research funds. This committee has been in operation for a year and its record is appended to this testimony. It has mobilized over 90 scientific specialists of the highest reputation. It has surveyed meticulously every activity in the field of cancer research. It has recommended the assignment of $805,000 in support of 95 research projects in the best institutions of the country. The grants have been made. The committee is a going, proved operation which can serve as a model. On the basis of its experience in the investigation and support of cancer research the following recommendations are justified:

1. The principles incorporated in S. 1875 which makes available Federal funds for the support of cancer research should be endorsed.

2. The funds for cancer research made available under S. 1875 or from any other public or private source should be expended under the direction of a commission composed of outstanding scientists and laymen appointed by the President.

3. This commission should be composed of 14 members, as follows: One full-time, paid chairman.