Radium and the Origins of the National Cancer Institute

114 C a n t o rIn addition to the requirement for state approval, the NCI stipulatedthat only those with qualifications equivalent to those required fordiplomates of the American Board of Radiology (incorporated in 1934)would be allowed to use the radium for treatment. “This is the higheststandard that we know of in this country,” explained Carl Voegtlin, thechief of the NCI, who went on to elaborate a legal rationale as well: “andit was adopted in order to protect ourselves against the possibility oflawsuits by persons who might be injured as the result of improperradium therapy.” 89 However, Schereschewsky (who had now moved fromHarvard to Georgia, where he was the acting director of cancer controlfor the state) worried that this recommendation might work against effortsto ensure that the radium was distributed to places that did not have it.In his view, the American Board of Radiology’s qualifications were sostrict that the creation of some outlying centers without such qualifiedradiologists would be unduly delayed, and would, as he put it, “seriouslycripple cancer treatment facilities in the State.” 90 By 1962, seven institutionshad been denied a loan because their radiologists did not meet thequalifications of the Board. 91These issues highlight tensions between federal and state administratorsover the radium loan program. The program might have begun as an effortto cement cooperative arrangements, but sometimes federal and stateofficials did not cooperate. Federal officials found state officials questioninghow they ran the program. These officials queried federal decisionsby which hospitals received or did not receive radium; federal decisionson the qualifications required of radium practitioners; and the federaldecision that only indigent patients should receive government radium.Georgia makes the case again. The Georgian control scheme aimed tomake cancer clinics available for both private and state-aided patients,and Georgian officials worried that federal rules dictated that, even wherethere was no other radium locally, paying patients would not be allowedto use NCI radium. Therefore they would be required to travel a considerabledistance for treatment–a requirement that would probably resultin delayed treatment. 92 The NCI’s response is not recorded, but it doesnot seem to have changed its rules.We do not know much about the technical use of radium: few recordson this subject appear to have survived. However, the quantity of radium