told nearly 50 people on Friday at Cathedral Hall.

Dr. Charles Dyer, speaking to raise awareness of the disease for Cancer Awareness Month, said the risks of prostate cancer increased with age.

The prostate is a large gland that rests around the male bladder.

Dr. Dyer said: "Prostate cancer, which is less likely to occur in men under 50, is more common in black men than white, and it occurs less in Chinese and Japanese men.

"There are definite racial differences in most types of cancer. Whites get more types of cancer than blacks.'' Dr. Dyer told the group it was well-known that the majority of men with prostate cancer died of something other than the cancer.

"For the longest time it was the treatment (of the disease) that killed them,'' he said.

He also said black men should be examined by the age of 45 as a hedge against the higher incidence of prostate cancer.

"If there has been prostate cancer in your family history, you should get checked every six months,'' he said. "If it is not in your family, you should get checked once a year.''