Already hailed as a preventive for arthritic pain, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer disease and colorectal malignancies, the common painkiller may also help to avert the most lethal of all cancers, a new Canadian report suggests.

Presented to a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Toronto yesterday, the Laval University study showed acetylsalicylic acid - ASA - inhibited lung tumor growth by more than 60 per cent in mice.

And in a second report yesterday to the delegates at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, doctors suggested a mere baby's dose of ASA every few days might be enough to help ward off almost 50 per cent of potential colorectal cancers.