May 13, 1944: Junior Chamber of Commerce declares war on VD
Edmonton’s Junior Chamber of Commerce announced an unusual wartime contribution.
Members were going to conduct a venereal disease education campaign at home as its contribution to the national voluntary program.
Told by authorities that venereal diseases were Canada’s major wartime public health problem, the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Canada decided at its national conference to make social hygiene education a major project.
Affiliated groups throughout the country were on the home-front battle lines, the Journal story said.
“Venereal diseases are a distinct threat to our war effort, we are told by national health authorities,” said Vern A. Sadd, chairman of the committee in charge here. “These insidious diseases are having an injurious effect on the efficiency of our Armed Forces and industrial output.
“It has been estimated officially that there are in Canada 300,000 persons who have syphilis, and that of these, 200,000 do not know they have been infected. Thirty thousand of these, it has been said, are likely to die prematurely, and in many cases families will be left dependent on the community.”
During the First World War, there were 60,000 cases of VD in the Canadian Army. It was estimated the number of cases since the start of the Second World War was 35,000. The air force alone, which was reputed to have the lowest infection rate, was said to have lost 70,000 man-days due to these diseases, the story said.
“Members of the Armed Forces are being infected in our communities,” Saad continued. “They are not being infected in their training camps or on shipboard. From all over Canada come reports of home-front casualties from venereal diseases. We are told also that the civilian infection rate is generally higher than that in the Armed Forces.
“It is up to us to make our communities safe; to replace ignorance with information, and to enlist everyone in the campaign to free Canada of these diseases.”
If you didn’t know that VD and syphilis were sexually transmitted diseases, you would have had to do some research because the words “sex” and “intercourse” were never used in the article.
As part of its education campaign, the chamber announced a poster competition on the subject “The Prevention and Treatment of Venereal Disease.” There were to be three classes: high school students, amateur artists and professional artists. The prize money totalled $75.