DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

 

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE e BETHESDA 14, MD.

 

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

OCT 8 4958

Dear Mr. Fogarty:

We have reviewed the letter from Mr. Mahon to you
concerning his intense interest in leukemia and his desire
to be informed of progress in research of this condition.

It occurs to me that material which Dr. Heller prepared as

@ memorandum to the Surgeon General and incorporated in a
letter from Dr. Burney to Mr. Mahon reflects accurately the
general situation concerning research in leukemia. The
present intense interest in the relationship between viruses
and cancer focuses attention upon the possibility that
leukemia may be caused by a viral agent. Many investigators
are engaged in research on this facet of cancer and much fine
work is now in progress, I am pleased to report. In
accordance with the request by the Congress for special
attention to virology, we are confident that more and better
progress will be apparent in the months to come.

I am sending along a draft which you may wish to
consider as a reply to Mr. Mahon's letter.

“|| sincerely yours,

Na wer Blau vs —

Director

Hon. John E. Fogarty ,
House of Representatives
Washington 25, D. Cs

Enclosures

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SUGGESTED REPLY

Dear Mr. Mahon:

The substance of your letter of September 19 has been brought
to the attention of Dr. Shannon and his staff at the National Insti-
tutes of Health. They inform me that a recent memorandum concerning
the status of leukemia research was prepared by Dr. Heller, Director
of the National Cancer Institute, for the Surgeon General of the
Public Health Service for transmission to you. Probably by this
time you have this memorandum and it seems to me to set forth the
current situation as viewed by the National Institutes of Health.

As you are aware, I am intensely interested in accelerating
research in cancer and from all I learn, there is real hope in the
next few years for a breakthrough in knowledge of the cause and treat-
ment of leukemia. At the same time however, we must be prepared to
expect that research in this area will require the utmost in
patience, effort and imagination before we can expect to have answers

which can be translated in terms of saving human lives.

1 aii—good-wishes :
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f ¢ Sincerely yours,

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John E. Fogarty