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Legal Guidance - Treatment of Cancer
This Guidance Notice seeks
to give information to healers in
Please note that I am not a
qualified legal practitioner and healers affected by this legislation should
seek professional legal advice as appropriate.
Please read the introductory
guidance on the legislative process in the
Chapter 13 of the Cancer Act
1939 is reproduced below under the terms of Crown
Copyright Policy Guidance issued by HMSO (Her Majesty’s Stationery
Office). Copyright is owned by the Crown
and information on reproduction rights may be found on the HMSO website at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/reproduction-of-legislation.htm
.
Background
In the 1930s, the Government
reviewed the existing provision for the treatment of cancer and concluded that
it would be appropriate to establish a statutory responsibility for local
authorities in
Healers need to be aware that this
legislation creates an absolute prohibition for people to make any comment or to
undertake any action to give the impression to people outside of the certain
classes of person specified in the legislation that they or any services or products
which they can supply can have any kind of healing effect upon cancer.
Could visitors to this website please
note that the Cancer Act to which I refer is legislation that was passed
originally for
The conditions attached to the
reproduction of copyright legislative material require that the full text of
the legal instruments be reproduced. Partial reproduction is not allowed. The
full text is produced below, therefore, but not all of it need be read. Part of
it is related to the financial costs and funding of the provision of cancer
related healthcare infrastructure. If you scroll down past the text in black,
the text in blue indicates the relevant part of the legislation that healers
need to understand.
Reproduction
of the legislation
Cancer Act, 1939.
2&3GEO.6. CH.13.
ARRANGEMENT
OF SECTIONS
Section.
1. Duty of
local authorities.
2. Financial provisions.
3. Loans to National Radium Trust.
4. Prohibition of certain advertisements.
5. Interpretation.
6. Application to
7. Application to
S. Short title, citation and extent.
CHAPTER 13.
An Act to make further provision for
the treatment of cancer, to authorise the Minister of Health to lend money to
the National Radium Trust, to prohibit certain advertisements relating to
cancer, and for purposes connected with
the matters aforesaid.
[29th March 1939.]
Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the
authority of the same, as follows:-
1.(1)
It shall be the duty of the council of every county
and county borough in England and Wales to make arrangements to secure that the
facilities for the treatment of persons suffering from cancer are adequate for
the needs of the county or borough, and to submit its arrangements for the
approval of the Minister within one year
from the commencement of this Act or such longer period as the Minister may in
any case allow.
(2) The arrangements so submitted by any
such council shall include arrangements
(a)
for facilitating the diagnosis of cancer
(b) for the treatment of cancer either
in hospitals maintained by the council or in hospitals maintained by other
councils or
local authorities or in
voluntary hospitals;
(c) for the payment in such cases as
the council considers necessary, of all or any travelling expenses (including
the
traveling expenses of a
companion) reasonably incurred by persons for the purpose of availing
themselves of the
services provided under the arrangements;
(d) for such other matters as appear
incidental to or consequential on the arrangements for the treatment of
cancer.
(3) Before submitting arrangements to the
Minister under this section a council shall consult
(a) such committees or other bodies as
the council considers to represent both the governing bodies and the medical
and
surgical staffs of the voluntary
hospitals providing services in or for the benefit of its area; and
(b) such local organizations of
registered medical practitioners as the council considers to represent the
opinions of such
practitioners practicing in its
area on the questions to be considered in making the arrangements.
(4) The Minister may approve, either with
or without modifications, any arrangements submitted to him by a council under
this
section, and it shall be the duty of
the council to carry its arrangements as approved by the Minister into effect.
(5) A council may from time to time, and
shall when required by the Minister, make and submit to the Minister
alterations or
extensions of the arrangements made
by the council under this section, and subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall
apply to any such alterations or
extensions as they apply to the original arrangements.
(6) Nothing in this section shall authorize
the establishment by any council of a general domiciliary service by medical
practitioners.
(7) The Public Health Act, 1936, shall have
effect as if this section, except in so far as it relates to the
were included in Part V of that Act.
(8) Without prejudice to the provisions of
any enactment enabling councils of counties and country boroughs to co-operate
or
combine, the Minister may require two
or more councils to combine, to such extent and on such terms as he may, in
default
of agreement between the councils
concerned, direct, for the purpose of making arrangements under this section.
(9) Any order or agreement constituting
under any enactment a joint board or joint committee to discharge the functions
of two
or more councils under this section
may provide for the co-option of such number of members of the board or
committee as
may be specified in the order or
agreement:
Provided that the number so specified
shall not exceed one-third of the total number of the members of the board or
committee.
2.(1)The following provisions of this
section shall have effect with a view to fulfilling the intentions of the Local
Government
Act, 1929. as declared by section one
hundred and thirty-five thereof, namely that in the event of material
additional
expenditure being imposed on any class
of local authorities by reason of the institution of a new service after the
commencement of that Act, provisions
should be made for increased contributions out of moneys provided by
Parliament.
(2) In respect of the year ending on the
thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and forty and of each subsequent
year in the
third and fourth fixed grant periods,
there shall be paid out of the moneys provided by Parliament, to the council of
every
county and county borough in
expenditure is imposed by this Act in
respect of that year, a grant calculated to the nearest pound by –
(a)
multiplying by the weighting factor one-half the amount of the additional
expenditure so imposed on the council, and
(b)
dividing the product by the average weighting factor;
Provided that the amount of the grant
payable under this subsection to any council shall not exceed
seventeen-twentieths of
the additional expenditure so imposed
on that council.
(3) For the fifth and every subsequent
fixed grant period, the General Exchequer Contribution shall include such
increased
contribution by reason of the
additional expenditure imposed on any council by the Act as Parliament may
hereafter
determine.
(4) Grants
payable under this section shall be payable at such times and in such manner as
the Treasury may direct and subject
to such conditions as to records,
certificates, audit or otherwise as the minister may, with the approval of the
Treasury,
determine.
(5) For
the purpose of section one hundred and four of the Local Government Act, 1929
(which authorises the reduction of
grants payable under Part VI of that
Act to a council which fails to maintain an efficient service), grants payable
under this
section shall be deemed to be payable
under the said Part VI.
(6) In determining the purpose of section
one of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1937, the amount of the
rate
and grant borne expenditure in the
year ending on the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and forty-one ,
no account
shall be taken of the additional
expenditure imposed on any council in respect of that year by this Act.
(7) For the purpose of this section,
expenditure incurred by a council in respect of any year in the provision of
treatment for
persons suffering from cancer shall be
deemed to be additional expenditure imposed by this Act on that council in respect
of
that year if, and to the extent that,
it is estimated to exceed the expenditure so incurred by that council in
respect of the year
ended on the thirty-first day of March
nineteen hundred and thirty-eight.
(8) Any such estimate as aforesaid made for
the purpose of subsection (2) or subsection (6) of this section shall be made
to the
satisfaction of the Minister in
accordance with directions given to him after consultation with such
associations of local
authorities as appear to him to be
concerned and with any council with which consultation appears to him to be
desirable,
and any such directions
(a) may provide that expenditure
incurred by any council in the provision of treatment for persons suffering
from cancer
shall for the purposes of this
section require the approval of the Minister; and
(b)may also provide that the amount of
any expenditure so incurred in respect of any particular services by a council,
or by a
council of any class specified in
the directions, shall be estimated by reference to the estimated average net
annual
expenditure incurred in respect
of those services by all councils or by councils of that class.
(9)In this section the following
expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them:-
‘‘Average weighting factor’’ means the
quotient obtained by dividing the aggregate weighted population of all the
counties
and county boroughs of
‘‘Weighting factor’’, in relation to a
county or county borough, means the quotient obtained by dividing the weighted
population thereof by the estimated
population thereof;
‘‘Estimated population’’, ‘’weighted
population’’, ’’fixed grant period’’ and ‘’General Exchequer Contribution’’
have the same
meanings as in the Local Government
Act, 1929, as amended by any subsequent enactment.
3.(1)The Minister may lend money to the
National Radium Trust, on such conditions as the Treasury may determine, for
the
purpose of enabling that Trust to
purchase radium and other radio-active substances and apparatus and appliances
required for radio-therapeutic
treatment;
Provided that
(a) the sums lent under this section
shall not in the aggregate exceed five hundred thousand pounds; and
(b) no money shall be lent under this
section after the expiration of ten years from the commencement of this Act.
(2) Any sums required by the Minister for
the purpose of loans under this section shall be paid out of moneys provided by
Parliament.
(3)The principal of and the interest on any
sums lent under this section shall by virtue of this Act be charged on the
undertaking
and all the revenues of the said
Trust.
(4)Any sums received by the Minister by way
of repayment of a loan under this section or by way of interest shall be paid
into
the Exchequer.
4.(1)No person shall take any
part in the publication of any advertisement
(a) containing an
offer to treat any person for cancer, or to prescribe any remedy therefore, or
to give any advice in
connection
with the treatment thereof; or
(b) by referring to
any article, or articles of any description, in terms which are calculated to
lead to the use of that article, or
articles of
that description, in the treatment of cancer.
(2) If any person
contravenes any of the provisions of the foregoing subsection, he shall be
liable on summary conviction, in
the case of a first
conviction, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, and, in the case of a
subsequent conviction, to a fine not
exceeding one
hundred pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to
both such a fine and
imprisonment.
(3) Where, in any
proceedings for a contravention of subsection (1) of this section it is proved
(a) that an
advertisement was published referring to any article, or articles of any
description, in terms calculated to lead to
the use of that
article or articles of that description in the treatment of cancer; and
(b) that the
advertisement also referred to the article or articles in terms calculated to indicate
that it or they were
manufactured,
produced, imported, sold or offered for sale, by the person charged;
then, unless the
contrary is proved, it shall be presumed for the purpose of those proceedings
that that person took part in
the publication of
an advertisement, but without prejudice to the liability of any other person.
(4) In any proceedings
for a contravention of subsection (1) of this section, it shall be a defence
for the person charged to prove
(a) that the advertisement to which the proceedings related was
published only so far as was reasonably necessary to bring
it to the
notice of persons of the following classes or of one or some of them, that is
to say,-
(i) members of either House of Parliament or of
a local authority or of the governing body of a voluntary hospital;
(ii) (without prejudice to the generality of the
foregoing sub-paragraph) persons concerned in making or carrying into
effect
arrangements under section one of this Act;
(iii)
registered medical practitioners;
(iv) registered
nurses;
(v) registered pharmacists and authorized sellers
of poisons;
(vi) persons
undergoing training with a view to becoming registered medical practitioners,
registered nurses or
registered
pharmacists;
(vii) persons
carrying on a business which includes the sale or supply of surgical
appliances; or
(b) that the said
advertisement was published only in a publication of a technical character
intended for circulation mainly
amongst persons
of the classes mentioned in the last preceding paragraph or some or some of
those classes; or
(c) that the said
advertisement was published in such circumstances that he did not know and had
no reason to believe that
he was taking
part in the publication thereof.
(5) Nothing in this
section shall apply in respect of any advertisement published by a local
authority or by the governing body
of a voluntary
hospital or by any person acting with the sanction of the Minister.
(6) A prosecution for an
offence under this section shall not be instituted in
General of the
Solicitor-General.
(7) Subject to the
provisions of the last foregoing subsection, it shall be the duty of the
council of every county and county
borough to institute proceedings under
this section.
(8) In this section, the
expression ‘‘advertisement’’ includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper or
other document, and any
announcement made
orally or by any means of producing or transmitting sounds.
5.(1) In this Act, the following
expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to
say:-
‘‘Hospital’’
includes a clinic, dispensary or other institution for the reception of the
sick whether as in-patients or as out-
patients;
‘‘The Minister’’
means the Minister of Health;
‘‘The National
Radium Trust’’ means the body incorporated by that name by royal charter.
(2) In this Act
references to persons suffering from cancer shall be construed as including
references to persons suspected so
to be suffering.
6. The Public Health (London) Act, 1936,
shall have effect as if section one of this Act, in so far as it relates to the
London County Council, were included in Part IX of that Act immediately before
section two hundred and nineteen thereof, and the following sections of that
Act shall have effect as if references to tubercolosis included references to
cancer, namely-
(a) section two hundred and twenty (which
provides for the powers of the Minister in case of failure by the said council
to make
adequate arrangements for the
treatment of tubercolosis);
(b) section two hundred and twenty-two
(which enables the said council to enter into agreement as respects the
treatment of
tubercolosis with other councils);
(c) section two hundred and twenty-three
(which relates to the expenses incurred by the said council in the treatment of
tubercolosis).
7. The following provisions shall have
effect for the purpose of the application of this Act to
(a) section one of the Act (except
subsection (7) thereof) and section two of this Act shall apply to
following modifications:-
(i) for any reference to
(ii)
for any reference to a county borough there shall be substituted a
reference to a large burgh within the meaning of the
Local Government (
Is situated;
(iii) any reference to a county or to
a county council shall, in the case of counties combined for the purposes
mentioned in
subsection (7)of section ten of
the Local Government (
county or to the joint county
council;
(iv) for references to the Local Government
Act, 1929, and to section one hundred and thirty-five and Part VI thereof,
there
shall be substituted
respectively references to the Local Government (
section seventy-eight and Part
III thereof; for any reference to section one of the Local Government
(Financial Provisions)
Act, 1937, there shall be
substituted a reference to section one of the Local Government (Financial
Provisions) (
Act, 1937; and for any reference to
the thirty-first day of March there shall be substituted a reference to the
fifteenth day of
May;
(b) for any reference to the Minister of
Health, except in section three of this Act, there shall be substituted a
reference to the
Department of Health for
(c) a county or a town council may, for the
purpose of any arrangements made by it and approved by the Department of Health
for
provision of hospitals for persons
suffering from infectious disease;
(d) any expenses incurred by a county or a
town council for the purposes of this Act shall be defrayed in like manner as
expenditure incurred by such council
under the Public Health (
(e) section one hundred and forty-seven of
the public Health (
were part of that Act;
(f) subsection (7) of section four shall
not apply.
8.(1) This Act may be cited as the Cancer
Act, 1939.
(2) Section one of this Act, in so far as
it relates to the council of a county in
Council, or to the council of a county
borough, may be cited together with the Public Health Acts, 1936 and 1937, as
the
Public Health Acts. 1936 to 1939.
(3) Section one of this Act, in so far as
it relates to the
with the Public Health (
(4) This Act shall not extend to
Date of posting:
30th January 2007
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