Letter: Hope for children with cancer

IT WAS with great concern that I read the reference to childhood leukaemia in the article 'Carnivores enjoy the same pleasure as child murderers' (30 January).

I would like to reassure parents of children with cancer that the picture is a great deal brighter than it was 30 years ago, for most forms of the disease. The cure rate for children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (the most common form) has risen to over 70 per cent, for example. Nine out of ten children who develop Hodgkin's disease (a cancer of the lymph system) will recover, while 30 years ago the outlook was grim.

Gordon Newman is entitled to his views, but he is not entitled to misrepresent the facts.

Professor Nicholas Wright

Director of Clinical Research

Imperial Cancer

Research Fund

London WC2