Tobacco Documents Online

rM GAZETTE. Monr..of. Mon . June 29, 1970 N('11 t'\ 1d('It('(' a . . ? Ganodiaji policy ojl sxF7.oking valid ? By PETER CALAMAI OTTAWA -- tGazette' - For most people. the debate about nhether cigaret sm)king was harmful ended with the repoC of [hc I:.S. Surgeuu-t;enerat in :°frt- 't"iat retwrt blamed smoking lor ine•reased deaths from lung cancer, h:art discase and respiratory ailments. But for .mne• mainty thc tobaccro industr> and scJenttAs a,,~kiated with it- the dcbatc still gocs on. And that debate provides Canadians with one oi their mest lively looks at the mu,ty toutc of science palicy. For so:ne reaurn the very mention of the term science policy produces yas•ns in most fxrop!c. but science policy becomes anythmg but dull nith issues like smoking. CANADIAN CONCLUSIONS Medical scientists with the ikpartmettt of National Hcalih and Welfare say: 1. A portion of the man.; deaths from heart aUar: are attnhalable 1o ci,;aret smoking: 2. Most lung cancer deaths are attributable to cigarcl smukir.g. 3. ,1 lart;c lwrti mot thc dcat.h+ froin chronic bronchitis and rmf>hy:•c:n. :• t,ttribctaF i-• to citiamt smukuig. iqt llc irtx :aulc rc>carchers funded by tobactti. ttntl.any rrn,in• say that aatisncal associations bethseen 1n~?rd dratn a:id srtio in da tint necessarily mean that the: e deat~L- But Cte .:'r:eeo scie:di.,t> this month have gane une r!e.p Zlie rC,,41rt Ul FcieftiU:i (i.7et•im Ci i.:e l:..l f- Tob?eco lieseart•h strJn; ; n;,ats that gs:,ettc and P*svionnlrnlal factors: ma} be inure important tharn smoking in the rtsin6 rrortah!y ratcs for these dW,ases. ARE TH'EY ALL ALIKE? ln his ltl-I><ige anr.ual report. Dr. Clarcttee Cook attacks the main f wndabon on >ti htch the Canadian officials havc resl:d their anti-anokw^ dccibron -- that smokers and non-smokers are enout;!i ahke in all othcr respects that it is scientifically valid to blame smoking for ihe dL°ierences br1N•ten their drath and : ickness rates. Council resezreh studies indicate this may na be so, says f)r. Cook. ' Yersunahty dtfferences and variations in body btuld' types have been dwcovered between the two grarps. More Importantly. one study sug,gests that smokers may be born with ditferent constitu!iuns than non-smokers_ These tentative theories are based on work published two years abo by 11r. B. 13. B.oNn, of the lleparttnent ot Psychiatry and Human Behavior. California College of Medicine in Los Angeles BRAIN 1VAVES MEASURED lir Brown ustid a machine called an etectroencephato- gr?nh t~ mpwore the br•rin n,ves o! ;: zeoptc, diviCed into 13 heavy smnF,rrs eight normal smokers, 15 twn-smokers and six fnrmcr smokera. The heavy smokers had far less of the so-called "alp!ia" u•av4.s in Uieir brain signals than the non-smokers. The normal amokirs and the 'ormer smokers fell in betk•een the tv.o extremes. If this diaerence in brain wave patterns is born with each person - and that i., not proven yct - then tt may indicate a here-tudore uuprovim basic difference between these'a•ho tal.e tip zintokmg and those n•ho dun l. seys Dr. Coo}; Ae bQr Ihe u•u•ncc r•,I:r,r Ue nc whcrc %twld cunflrinAtiun ul t)i CuVI.•. (heur± ha%e CaBadsJ's guverrm^n;al r.e.+tth ofltc,uls e•no have already m~+de aa their fr'nds at ctg:.re: sntul.ing' Mr. Catymai wrifev /or Th. Gazette kom Ottawa and [70ciahKL tn:ce_efifi: a..feiri, . f I f