European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Friday september 16, 1977 mental health care lacking costly report says Washington a Between 20 million and 32 million americans need mental health care a new report to the government says but help is often unavailable because of inadequate Community services costs that Are too High or the stigma of mental illness. The time has come for mental health care to become part of a broader Effort to Deal with human needs concludes the preliminary report of the presi Dent s commission on mental health released thurs Day. The report notes that 15 per cent of the population needs some form of help ranging from counselling to Long term care not counting the six million who Are mentally retarded. At any one time the report adds some 25 per cent of the country is under enough emotional stress that a doctor might diagnose such people As suffering from depression or anxiety. Fifteen per cent of the school age population needs help at one time the commission found and people aged 65 and Over have the highest incidence of mental health problems the commission found. The report says minorities and the country s Rural population have special problems. Social and economic conditions make these people vulnerable to psychological and emotional distress the report said. The commission said individuals who need attention include those who suffer the effects of a variety of societal ills. The alienation and fear the depression and anger associated with unrelenting poverty and the institutionalized discrimination that occurs on the basis of race sex class age and mental and physical Handi  Rosalynn Carter is honorary chairman of the 20 member commission which is making 14 specific recommendations to president Carter. These proposals if implemented. Offer the Hope of immediate improvement in the availability of serv ices to Many of those we have identified wrote or. Thomas e. Bryant commission chairman in his letter to Carter. The recommendations according to a commission spokesman would require no new legislation no extra funds and could be implemented by Carter. The commission requested More Aid for group care facilities through programs in the department of hous ing and Urban development plus sizable increases in budgets for government programs dealing with mental health alcoholism and drug abuse problems. The report noted a movement away from Large institutions toward Community based care and an increase in the direct Cost of mental health services from $1.7 billion in the 1950s to $17 billion in 1975. The commission held four Public hearings around the country which the first lady attended and heard Tes Timony from some 400 individuals. A National strategy for preventing mental illness will be one of the main topics of the final report by the com Mission that is to be presented to Carter on april 1, 1978. Potential danger breast cancer a Ray restriction considered Washington a a National breast cancer detection program should be continued but its use of breast a rays should be restricted because of their Poten Lial for causing the disease in some women a National cancer Institute advis Ory group said thursday. The report presented at a breast cancer screening meeting said praying breasts a process called mammography effectively finds cancer that goes undetected by other methods. But too much is unknown about the possibility of radiation causing cancer for mammography to be used routinely on All women particularly those under age 50, he study said. Attending the meeting at the National institutes of health is a group of scientists physicians and Lay persons who Hope to develop a consensus on whether the detection program should be continued and what it should include. The report reviewed data from the $54 nillion breast cancer detection Demon stration project cosponsored by the a ional cancer Institute and the american cancer society in which up to 270,000 Volunteer women aged 35 and older Are being screened for five years. The value of the project has been questioned not Only because of mammography out also because it is still unclear if Early detection improves Long term survival As Many medical authorities believe. Project officials say the program so far Nas uncovered More than 2,500 cancers using various screening methods. The advisory group headed by or. Oliver h. Beahrs of the Mayo clinic in Rochester minn., last january began re viewing the project to see what has been Learned and if it could be applied to future controlled studies to resolve unanswered questions about Early detection. The current program began in 1973 with 12 medical centers and later expanded to a total of 27. Each Center project is to screen about 10,000 women a year for five years using a variety of methods including phys ical examinations and thermography. The advisory group recommended drop Ping thermography As a routine procedure m the program because it missed Many cancers detected by a rays. Thermography is a method of measuring heat variations in the breast in Hopes of spotting cancer hot  at a briefing Beahrs said thermography still has potential and should be kept As an option. But he said the method which has no risks and is cheaper than a rays in t yet Good enough to stand alone. Concerning mammography the panel s recommendations for a Ray exams Are almost identical to guidelines already in effect for the program. This was not sur prising since the guidelines were modified earlier based in part on preliminary recommendations from the group. The report said routine yearly Mammo graphics should be restricted to women aged 50 and Over who Are at highest risk of the disease. Women age 40 to 49 should have a Ray exams Only if they had Previ Ous breast cancer or close female relatives had the disease an indication of Heredi tary risk Factor. The study group said women 35 to 39 years of age should be screened with mammography Only if they previously had breast cancer. The current program guide lines also allow this group a Ray exams if close relatives such As a Mother or sister had cancer. It also urged that Small tutors found during the program be examined More carefully before treatment to be sure they Are cancerous. No treatment is done within the pro Gram. If a cancer is found it is referred to the woman s physician for further tests and treatment. Reexamining a group of 506 Small so called minimal cancers the review panel interpreted 66 to be benign not cancerous. The panel said 53 women had some Type of Mastectomy or breast removal for tutors that did t appear cancerous upon reexamination. We must remember that pathology is an interpretive science and experts Don t always agree on what is cancerous Beahrs said. Beahrs said the 53 women who had mastectomies in the questionable cases should be notified that they May or May not have had cancer but he said no decision had been made on who would Tell the women. Stout Effort by designer new York fashion designer Raven Chanticleer looks on happily As two of his stouter models display gowns from the Chanticleer fall and Winter collection. Fat women have been forgotten and this is my baby this is my dream to bring them Back the designer told reporters. _ a photo secret a fest held to prove a Point Washington a the govern ment conducted a secret nuclear test demonstrating that impure plutonium from nuclear Power plants can be used to make bombs the Energy research and develop ment administration said wednesday. A spokesman for Erda confirmed the test in the Nevada desert but said the specific results the Date and other matters surrounding it remained classified. The government has been reluctant in recent years to Export peacetime nuclear technology for fear that plutonium the spent fuel from reactors could be used tomake nuclear weapons. Such plutonium normally is designed Forre use As nuclear fuel but not for weapons because of its impurity. President Carter has tried to discourage countries with nuclear capability to sell plutonium extrac Tion technology to non nuclear nations. The Erda spokesman said the secret test at a Nevada site used reactor Grade materials and a successful nuclear yield was achieved causing an explosion. He declined to give further details of the test. The fact that such a test took place was recently declassified the spokesman said. The declassification reportedly is de signed to give support to the Carter administration arguments against the proliferation of nuclear Power. This does t mean that plutonium could be taken directly from a nuclear re actor and be fashioned into a nuclear weapon the spokesman said. Before reactor Grade plutonium could be used As a weapon it would have to be separated from the highly radioactive Fis Sion products and uranium which is also in the spent fuel. And this would require a Complex process he said. Plutonium used in Power plants contains about 24 per cent of a contaminating isotope plutonium-240, while weapons Grade plutonium contains less than 6 per cent of the contaminating substance. Weapons Grade plutonium is manufactured at government owned facilities de signed just for the purpose of making nuclear bombs and warheads