Council for Tobacco Research
Exhibit C the Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Reprinted From the Journal of the American Medical Association Volume 213, No. 13 [St Follow-Up Study with Lung Cancer Patients Shows Decrease in Risk After Changing to Filter Cigarettes or Stopping Smoking and States Further Efforts Needed to Prevent Lung Cancer]
Abstract
MAR
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- 11316746-6816
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- 11316802B-6802B Dr. Wynder to Direct New American Health Foundation Tobacco Reporter [St Regards Formation of American Health Foundation for Research in Preventive Medicine Field]
- 11316802C-6802C Ongoing Research Poses Interesting Questions Tobacco Reporter [St Twin Studies Concerning Smoking and Lung Cancer Reveal No Relationship in Women or Between Smoking and Heart Disease]
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- 11316814-6816 Biography [St]
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- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, N.Y.
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- Gallup Organization
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- Consumers Reports Magazine
- Readers Digest
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- Maxwell Report
- Cahan, W.
- Cornfield, J.
- Doll
- Graham
- Hammond, E.C.
- Hill
- Jelliffe
- Kreyberg
- Robson
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, N.Y.
- Author
- Beattie, E.J., Memorial Hospital For Cancer And Allie
- Mabuchi, K., Amer Health Foundation
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Reprinted from the Journal of the American Medical Association
September 28, 1970 Volume 213
Copyright 1970, American Medical Association
EXHIBIT C
The Epiden~iology
of Lung Cancer
Recent Trends
Ernest L. Wynder, MD; Kiyohiko Mabuchi, MD; and Edward J. Beattie, Jr., MD
A. retrospective epidemiologic investigation of 350 lung
cancer patients con firmed the close association between
cigarette smoking and lung cancer, particularly o f the
squamous and oat cell types. New trends in this study
show that there is a decrease in relative risk f or those
patients developing lung cancer ten years af ter they have
switched to filter cigarettes, possibly due to the lower
"tar" content in filter cigarettes smoked by these patients.
The risk also declines af ter complete cessation of smoking
and appears to approach the level of nonsmokers af ter
13 years o f not smoking. Further e f f orts to produce less
harm f ul tobacco products should be continued and expanded
although no smoking or cessation o f smoking is the most
effective prevention against lung cancer.
W ith a wealth of epidemio-
logic studies on the etiol-
ogy of lung cancer in the
literature, it may not seem worth the
effort to report yet again on the en-
vironmental background of a group
of lung cancer patients." However.
such a study is of value if it can show
evidence of changes, particularly in
time trends, in the epidemiological
background of these patients.
In a great many epidemiologic
studies, it has been found that,
among cigarette smokers, the risk of
lung cancer increases with the num-
ber of cigarettes smoked per day.'"
In other words, there is a dose-re-
sponse relationship. This suggests
that reducing dosage by means of
reducing the concentration of the
smoke from each cigarette might
have the same effect as reducing the
From the Division of Environmental
Cancerigenesis,. Sloan-Kettering Institute
for Cancer Research, and the Division of
Epidemiology, American Health Founda-
tion (Drs. Wynder and Mabuchi) and the
Department of Surgery, Memorial Hospital
for Cancer & Allied Diseases, New York
(Dr. Beattie).
Reprint request_s to 2 E End Ave, New
York 1002] (Dr. Wvnder).
number of cigarettes smoked per day.
If "tar" is the principal harmful in-
gredient, then it would be sufficient
to reduce the concentration of the
tar.
The Hammond study on ex-
smokers aged 50 to 69 years who had
smoked 20 or more cigarettes daily,
shows that after ten years of not
smoking they have a death rate sim-
ilar to that of nonsmokers."
These two pieces of evidence taken
together suggest the following hy-
pothesis:
If tar is the principal lung cancer in-
ducing factor then people who have
switched from high tar cigarettes to
low tar cigarettes should have lower
rates of lung cancer than those who
continue to smoke high tar cigarettes-
this taking place ten or more years af-
ter the switch.
The present study was undertaken
to test this hypothesis.
Methods of Study
Lung cancer patients admitted to
the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Can-
cer Center in New York City are
interviewed routinely about their
background and social habits.
Each patient included in this re-
port has a histologically-proven lung
cancer and was interviewed between
November 1966 and August 1969.
The study group consisted of 2'10
men and 30 women with Kreyberg
r
JAMA, Sept 28, 1970 Vol 213, No 13
Lung Canc.er-Wynder et al 2221

2.X
Table 1.-Type of Smoking and Number of Cigarettes
Smoked by Lung Cancer Patients and Controls
M
l Kreyberg 1 Kreyberg 2
A Control
~
a
No.
(%)
No
(%)
N .o
(%)~
Nonsmokers - 3 (1.4) 6 (8.1) 88 (21.0)
Current smokers -{ exsmokers
rf 9 yr/
Crgarette smokers
191
(91.0)
61
(82.4)
199
(47.4)
P pes and/or cigars only 10 (4.8) 3 (4.1) 64 (15.2)
Eaimokers (10 F yr)
Cig.arottes
b
(2.9)
3
(4.1)
65
(15.5)
P pes and/or cigars only 0 (0) 1 (1.4) 4 (1.0)
Total Male Patients 210 (100) 74 (100) 420 (100)
No. of cigarettes per day
1 to 9
7
(3.6)
1
(1.6)
42
(15.9)
10 to 20 57 (28.9) 20 (31.3) 114 (43.2)
21 to 40 74 (37.6) 34 (53.1) 82 (31.1)
41 (
- 59 (29.9) 9 (14.1) 26 (9.8)
Total Cigarette Smokers
- 197 (100) 64 (100) 264 (100)
Female
Nonsmokers 5 (16.7) 15 (41.7) 76 (57.6)
Current smokers -{- exsmokers
(1-9 yr)
Cigaretto smokers 24 (80.0) 21 (58.3) 53 (40.2)
E.srnokers (10 i yr) 1 (3.3) 0 (0) 3 (2.3)
Total Female Patients 30 (100) 36 (100) 132 (100)
No. ot c garettes per day
I to 9
1
(4.0)
2
(9.5)
19
(33.9)
10 to 20 13 (52.0) 11 (52.4) 24 (42.9)
21 to 40 8 (32.0) 7 (33.3) 10 (17.9)
41 1 3 (12.0) 1 (4.8) 3 (5.4)
Total Crgarette Smokers 25 (100) 21 (100) 56 (100)
Table 2.-Hlstological Type and Sex Ratio of Lung Cancer Patients
Male Female Sex Ratio
~._
~ (Male:Female)
No. (%) No.
Kreybird group 1 210 (73.9) 30 (45.5) 7.00:1
Kreybcrg group 2 74 (26.1)/ 36 (54.5) 2.06:1
Tot.ls 284 (100) 66 (100)/ 4.30:1
group I c:tncer of the lung (squa-
nluu: nnci out cell types) and 74 men
and .1(i wUlll(11 with Kreyberg group
2+i;l:tncluLu) cancer of the lung.
'1'hv cotatrol t;roup interviewed at
Nitnulriul at the :c:une time was twice
thv sir< of the cancer group and
nrttche<i hY sex ,md age to the male
Kneyhtrg, I ttntients and all female
c.lncer tr.ttients. '1'he criterion for in-
(liritlu,ll, ill the control group was
that thw ' v shuuld have no known to-
h:ucu-ncl:tto(1 dise:ISes.'''
't'he risk for any subclass relative
to that fur wonsnlokvtti was computed
in a,t,uld;lyd f:tshion,-' as follows:
(A n: :Inc1 11 st:lnd for the number
trf t'.tse, :In(1 culttrols respectively in
that subclass and let m, and m._ stand
for the number of nonsmoking cases
and controls. Then the relative risk
for the subclass=
n,
n:
m,
m,
Thus, for those smoking 41 or more
filtered cigarettes per day, n,=25,
n.,=7; from Table 1, m, =3; m_=88;
and the relative risk is 104.8.
Results
Sex Ratio and Histology.-When
the sex ratio of patients with the
different histological types of cancer
was examined, the Kreyberg 1 group
had a greater predominance of men
than the Kreyberg 2 group (Table
2).
Age Distribution.-Male Kreyberg
1 cancer patients were somewhat
older than the male Kreyberg 2 pa-
tients and both groups of women,
though the difference between the
male Kreyberg 1 and Kreyberg 2
groups was not significant (t=1.19,
0.15>P>0.10). (Table3).
Religion.-The male Kreyberg 1
cancer group included a significantly
lower percentage of Jews than both
Kreyberg 2 cancer (1"=3.65, df=1,
10>P>0.105) and control groups
(1'=25.65, df=1, 0.005>P) (Table
4). The female Kreyberg 2 cancer
group also contained a lower propor-
tion of Jews than the controls, but
the difference was not statistically
significant.
Smoking.-Among the men in the
study there was a significantly great-
er percentage of smokers in both his-
tological groups than in the controls,
and greater in Kreyberg 1 than in
Kreyberg 2 (Table 1). ( Kreyberg 1
and control: 1"=41.61, df=1, 0.005
>P; Kreyberg 2 and control: X2=
5.93, df=1, 0.05>P>0.10; Kreyberg
1 and Kreyberg 2: \-=5.93, df=1,
0.05>P>0.01). The female Krey-
berg 1 group also contained a sig-
nificantly higher percentage of ciga-
rette smokers than the controls (X2 =
14.77, df=1, 0.05>P). The differ-
ence in smokers between the female
Kreyberg 2 and control group was
not statistically significant (X2=
2.28, df=1, 0.25>P>0.10).
Amount and Type of Cigarette
Smoked.-Data on amount smoked
refers to the number of cigarettes
smoked daily during the last five
years of smoking. Any patient who
had smoked at least one cigarette a
day for 20 years or more was defined
as a cigarette smoker and was in-
cluded in this analysis. If a patient
smoked for less than 20 years, a daily
number of cigarettes smoked was
calculated as follows: (daily number
of cigarettes )=( the average number
of cigarettes per day for past 5 years )
2222 JAMA, Sept 28, 1970 0 Vol 213, No 13 Lung Cancer-Wynder et at

Table 3.-Age Distribution of Lung Cancer Patients
Male Female
r
Age at
Kreyberg 1
Kreyberg 2 ~
Kreyberg 1
Kreyberg 2
Diagnosis . I -~ r- `- - ~--~.
(Yr) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
30-39 3 (1.4) 6 (8.1) 1 (3.3) 4 (11.1)
40-49 31 (14.8) 7 (9.5) 4 (13.3) 2 (5.6)
50-59 56 (26.7) 23 (31.1) 14 (46.7) 15 (41.7)
60-69 83 (39.5) 32 (43.2) 9 (30.0) 11 (30.6)
70-79 33 (15.7) 6 (8.1) 2 (6.7) 4 (11.1)
80-{- 4 (1.9) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
Totals 210 (100) 74 (100) 30 (100) 36 (100)
Mean
Age
60.2
57.8
56.6
56.7
Table 4.-Religious Distribution of Lung Cancer Patients and Controls
Kreyberg I Kreyberg 2 Control
r- - , --~-~ .--~
Religion No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
Male
Jews
29
(13.8)
18 (24.3)
139
(33.1)
Catholics 116 (55.2) 33 (44.6) 184 (43.8)
Protestants 65 (31.0) 23 (31.1) 97 (23.1)
Totals 210 (100) 74 (100) 420 (100)
Female
Jews
5
(16.7)
14 (38.9)
38
(28.8)
Catholics 15 (50.0) 13 (36.1) 56 (42.4)
Protestants 10 (33.3) 9 (25.0) 38 (28.8)
Totals 30 (100) 36 (100) 132 (100)
Table 5.-Number and Type of Cigarettes Smoked by
Male Lung Cancer Patients and Controls
Regular Filter°
No. Kreyberg 1 Control Kreyberg 1 Control
Cigarettes ,----- J ~ .--~`--~
p.er Day No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
1 to 9 4 (4.9) 6 (9.7) 2 (3.0) 11 (13.4)
10 to 20 24 (29.6) 31 (50.0) 17 (25.8) 36 (43.9)
21 to 40 30 (37.0) 21 (33.9) 22 (33.3) 28 (34.1)
41 -}- 23 (28.4) 4 (6.5) 25 (37.9) 7 (8.5)
Totals 81 (100) 62 (100) 66 (100) 82 (100)
°Persons who smoked filters for ten or more years after switching from regular cigarettes.
Table 6.-Duration of Exsmoking in Male Lung Cancer Patients and Controls
Kreyberg 1 Kreyberg 2 Control
No. Years Since r---J -~ r---:.
Stopping Smoking No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)
I to 3 18 (50.0) 3 (25.0) 22 (17.6)
4 to 6 8 (22.2) 3 (25.0) 17 (13.6)
7 to 12 8 (22.2) 3 (25.0) 31 (24.8)
13 + 2 (5.6) 3 (25.0) 55 (44.0)
Totals 36 (100) 12 (100) 125 (100)
x (years of smoking/20 years).
Thus, a patient smoking 20 ciga-
rettes daily for ten years was classi-
fied as a ten-per-day cigarette
smoker. However, such adjustments
were rarely necessary.
Among cigarette smokers there
was a significantly greater percent-
age of men who smoked in excess of
two packs of cigarettes a day in the
Kreyberg 1 group than in both Krey-
berg 2 and control groups, (Krey-
berg 1 and 2: (\"=5.53, df=1,
0.05>P>0.01; Kreyberg 1 and con-
trol: \'-29.00, df=1, 0.005>P)
(Table 1). A similar, but not sta-
tistically significant, trend was rloted
for men between the Kreyberg 2
group and controls, and for women
between Kreyberg 2 group and con-
trols.
For the purpose of testing the hy-
pothesis presented in the beginning
of this communication, the relative
risk for Kreyberg 1 lung cancer was
calculated by the method stated be-
fore for nonfilter (regular) vs filter
cigarette smokers. The former group
included persons who smoked non-
filter cigarettes only. The latter, on
the other hand, comprised individ-
uals who changed to filter cigarettes
and had smoked them for at least
ten years. In the preliminary analy-
sis, it was found that persons who
had quit smoking for a long period
of time had smoked more nonfilter
cigarettes before stopping than either
current or recent exsmokers, as
might be expected because there
were, of course, fewer filter cigarettes
on the market ten years ago than
today. In addition, the control group
contained a significantly larger per-
centage of exsmokers of long dura-
tion (Table 1). Therefore, for a sta-
tistical comparison of nonfilter and
filter cigarettes, an arbitrary ten-
year period of exsmoking was chosen
and anyone who had not smoked for
at least ten years was excluded from
this particular analysis.
The results showed that the rela-
tive risk increased in proportion to
the greater number of cigarettes
smoked for both long-term filter and
nonfilter smokers, and that the lower
relative risk noted for filter smokers
as a whole (Fig 1) was similar for
all subclasses of smoking amounts
(Fig 2). The ratio of nonfilter to
filter cigarette smokers was 1.22:1
for the Kreyberg 1 and 0.76:1 for the
control patients, indicating more
nonfilter cigarette smokers in the
lung cancer group than the control
group (,K"=3.76, df=1, 0.10>P>
0.05) (Table 5). The data also
showed a greater percentage of 40
plus-per-day filter cigarette smokers
in the lung cancer group (37.9,°,~)
compared with nonfilter cigarette
smokers (28.4 J), a trend not as
JAMA, Sept 28, 1970 e Vol 213, No 13 Lung Cancer-Wynder et al 2223'

4)
Filter
c qercttes ciyarettes
(l0+years)
i~.; Ia,i r
I
1. l,ung c,,ncrr risk by type of smoking, in men,
li ' r}^brrA. ("~ruup 1.
I
~
;
i
'SJ :
~ Current smokers &
ex-smokers (1-9yrs 1
Cigars
and/or
pipes
Ex-smokers (10+yrs.)
Case
N ` Control
6 3
69 88
----- =--- Nonsmoker
Ex-smoker
(10+ years)
Case
N' Control
3
88
-Nonsmoker
.rrf n t
S,,c~.ers
3 4-b 7-12
Years of Ex-s mokiny
134
150
100
50
0
Regular cigarettes
® Filter cigarettes (10+yrs.)
Nonsmoker risk = 1
Case
N ` Control
~
1-9 10-20 21-40
Cigarettes per Day
41 or more
2. Lung cancer risk by number of cigarettes smoked
daily, in men, Kreyberg group 1.
3. Lung cancer risk by years of exsmoking, in
men, Kreyberg group 1.
.,~~...,.,~.~
2224
InP.1n, Sept 28, 1970 Vol 213, No 13
Lung Cancer-Wynder et al

L?
apparent in the control group.
The data were examined in rela-
tion to religion (Jewish and non-
Jewish), but only 22 of the patients
were Jewish men and this was too
few to attempt an analysis in rela-
tion to the type of cigarettes smoked.
However, removing Jews from the
data showed the relative risk to be
46.2 for nonfilter smokers (74 cases,
50 controls) and 26.8 for filter smok-
ers (51 cases, 59 controls), thus
showing similar differences as found
for the total group. Although the
original matching of study to control
cases was made by age, the data
were examined by age group because
when it was broken down by smok-
ing category it was possible that the
age distribution might be _ unbal-
anced. While a higher relative risk
was consistently noted for regular,
or nonfilter, cigarette smokers, in
both the under 59 and over 60 age
groups, the greatest difference in
the relative risk for nonfilter and fil-
ter smokers tended to be seen in the
younger age group.
A meaningful comparison of the
groups smoking filter cigarettes for
less than ten years by amount
smoked is not possible because only
23 patients with Kreyberg 1 lung
cancer had smoked filter cigarettes
for one to four years, and 21 for five
to nine years.
Cigar and Pipe Smokers.-Al-
though cigarette smoking was shown
to be closely related to lung cancer,
it must be remembered that cigar
and pipe smokers also have a higher
relative risk for lung cancer than
nonsmokers (Fig 1). Among pa-
tients who smoked cigars or pipes or
both in this study, the amount con-
sumed by the male Kreyberg 1 can-
cer patients was greater than by the
controls. Of seven Kreyberg 1 can-
cer patients who smoked cigars only,
three smoked ten or more per day
compared with four of 55 in the con-
trols. Among those who smoked
pipes only, two of four cancer pa-
tients and ten of 35 controls smoked
ten or more pipes daily. One can-
r
r
1958 '59 '60 '61 '63 '66 '67 '68 '69
Year of Report
4. Filter and nonfilter "tar" yields in the United States,
1958-1969. These data are compiled reports in Consumer's Report,
Reader's Digest, Federal Trade Commission Reports, Wooten Reports,
and Maxwell Reports. The results have been converted to correspond to
the standards employed by the Federal Trade Commission."
cer patient and 26 controls smoked
both cigars and pipes.
Of three Kreyberg 2 male cancer
patients, one smoked seven cigars
daily, another 5 pipes daily, and the
third smoked ten cigars and 11 pipes
per day.
Exsmokers.-An examination of
the men who had given up smoking
at least one year before hospital ad-
mission showed that the lung cancer
patients stopped smoking more re-
cently than the controls (Table 6).
,The Kreyberg 1 male group included
a significantly higher percentage of
persons who stopped smoking less
than three years prior to diagnosis
than the controls (1--22.32, df=1,
0.005>P).
Though the data seem to be based
on a rather small number of cases,
the relative risk for Kreyberg 1 lung
cancer was found to decline steadily
after cessation of the smoking habit
(Fig 3). The relative risk for those
who stopped smoking up to three
years previously was the same as for
current smokers, but after 13 years
the risk appeared to be nearly the
same level as that of nonsmokers.
Further analyses of exsmokers by
age and different exposure to tobac-
JAMA, Sept 28, 1970 Vol 213, No 13 Lung Cancer-Wyndw et al 2225

co could not be carried out because of
the paucity of cases after such cross-
tabulation.
A review of the environmental his-
tory of lung cancer patients who
were long-term exsmokers might be
of interest in view of determining
probable exogenous factors that
might be related to the etiology of
the cancer. The study contained six
lung cancer patients who had given
up smoking at least ten years prior
to diagnosis. Of these six cases, the
only one to have smoked for less
than 22 years had a most unusual
epidemiological history which sug-
gested his lung cancer could have
been related to factors other than
smoking. Between the ages of eight
and ten years, the patient was treated
for psoriasis with potassium arsenite.
At 27 years of age, he had a lymph
node tumor removed from his groin
and received x-ray therapy. At the
age of 37 years the patient had an
epidermoid carcinoma of the scrot-
um as well as a squamous cancer
of the buttock. The present cancer
of the lung was diagnosed the follow-
ing year and seven months later yet
another primary, this time adeno-
carcinoma of the kidney, was detect-
ed. There is a possibility that these
multiple primaries, particularly of
the skin surface, may be associated
with high doses of potassium arsen-
ite''-' and that the effect of this med-
ication is also related to the lung
cancer. Of interest in this respect is
the report by Robson and Jelliffe of
six patients who developed lung can-
cer after the therapeutic administra-
tion of arsenic.A Cahan made a sim-
ilar observation and suggested a pos-
sible synergistic action of the arsen-
ical compound and cigarette smoke.
(oral communication from Dr. Wil-
liam Cahan, Aug 18, 1969) A me-
tastatic spread of the scrotal lesion
to the lung, although a rare occur-
rence, is also a possibility."
One exsmoking patient had. given
up 18 years previously after smoking
heavily for 22 years. Another patient
who had given up smoking 20 years
previously was a carpenter by trade,
an occupation often associated with
lung cancer in nonsmokers.'°
Nonsmokers With Lung Cancer:
The fact that Kreyberg 1 lung can-
cer can develop in a nonsmoker,
though it is quite rare, needs to be
considered. One of the three non-
smokers in the male Kreyberg 1
group was a house painter, Like a
carpenter, this is an occupation
more common than could be ex-
pected among smokers with epider-
moid carcinoma of the lung.'° The
second nonsmoker was a 54-year-old
physician who received excessive
nitrogen and sulfur mustard gas ex-
posures while working in the Chem-
ical Warfare Service in 1942-1946.
Really adequate protective clothing
and gas masks were not considered
very important in those days and on
many occasions he suffered blisters
and burns on the skin after visiting
fields where these gases had been
used. The increased occurrence of
lung cancer among poison gas work-
ers irk Japan is of interest in respect
to this case." The third nonsmoker
with epidermoid lung cancer was an
archaeologist.
Comment
The findings of the present study
in respect to filter cigarettes are con-
sistentwith the hypothesis presented
in the beginning of the communica-
tion.
Figure 4 shows the decline in tar
content in leading filter and nonfilter
brands of cigarettes since 1958 as
well as the increased share of the
market taken by filters in this period.
These are interesting observations
since at the beginning of the 1950's,
filter cigarettes represented only a
very small fraction of the total con-
sumed in the United States.
Conceptually, lung cancer devel-
ops when the cumulative tar dose
has reached a certain level. If the
dose in a single cigarette is reduced
by 20% it would be reasonable to
assume that to achieve the critical
dose level, the individual would have
to smoke more cigarettes.
The Hammond study on ex-
smokers aged 50-69 years who had
smoked 20 or more cigarettes daily,
shows that after ten years of not
smoking, the individuals have a
death rate from lung cancer similar
to that of nonsmokers.' After five to
nine years, when Hammond's study
shows a decline of 50% among ex-
smokers, a similar change as found
for filter smokers in the present
study, can be expected if smokers
change to a lower tar cigarette. On
the basis of Hammond's study and
our hypothesis, no change would be
expected among heavy smokers aged
50-69 years who shifted to filter cig-
arettes and smoked them for five
years or less. The Hammond study
showed also that exsmokers who had
been light smokers (1-19 cigarettes
per day) already had a reduced lung
cancer risk one to four years after
stopping relative to those who had
continued smoking. Similar findings
were observed by Doll and Hill' The
present study did not contain suf-
ficient exsmokers to carry out a sep-
arate analysis of those who had
smoked less than 20 cigarettes per
day and who were under 50 years
of age.
As none of the lung cancer patients
in the present study started out
smoking filter cigarettes, the relative
risk for individuals who smoked only
filter cigarettes could not be deter-
mined.
From an experimental point of
view, few of the longterm filter
smokers in the study used filters
that would have selectively removed
components toxic to the cilia from
the gas phase, such as hydrogen
cyanide and volatile aldehydes-
Cellulose acetate fibers, from which
the vast majority of filters are
made, tend to remove selectively
some acidic components from smoke.
Since available filter materials gen-
erally do not selectively remove car-
cinogenic agents from the particu-
late matter and the tar from filter
cigarettes has the same tumorigenic
2226 JAMA, Sept 28, 1970 . Vol 213, No 13 Lung Cancer-Wynder et al

activity as tar from nonfilter ciga-
rettes when compared on a gram-to-
gram basis," the decreased risk for
filter smokers shown by the present
study appears to relate primarily to
the reduction in the total tar con-
tent obtained by using filter cigar-
ettes. There is a considerable range
in the tar yields of different filter
cigarettes. Therefore, the decreased
risk for filter smokers is likely to
be in direct proportion to the tar con-
tent of various brands. This aspect
will be explored in subsequent
studies.
Through manufacturing changes,
the tar content of regular nonfilter
cigarettes has also been reduced in
recent years so that the present-day
nonfilter cigarettes should also be
relatively less harmful than they
were in the past. This fact may ac-
count for the finding that lung can-
cer patients who smoked nonfilter
cigarettes only in the present study
tended to have smoked more of them
than lung cancer patients in the per-
iod 1948-50.' In the study by Wyn-
der and Graham in 1950, 20.3% of
male patients with squamous cell
carcinoma of the lung smoked 35
or more cigarettes or equivalent per
day (in these calculations, the data
on pipe and cigar smoking was
translated into cigarette equivalents
and added to number of cigarettes
smoked) ,.while in the present study
49.4% of nonfilter smokers with
Kreyberg 1 lung cancer consumed
35 or more cigarettes daily.
It is still unclear, however, wheth-
er the decreased relative risk of lung
cancer for smokers of contemporary
cigarettes compared with 20 years
ago is related exclusively to differ-
ences in tar yield or also to a reduct-
ion in carcinogenic activity of the
tar. Animal studies suggest that the
latter may also be a factor. Through
the increased use of lower tar yield-
ing and homogenized tobaccos, and
tobacco stems, the tar yield can be
--diminished partly by enhancing
combustion. Such practices have
been shown to lead to a decrease in
tumorigenic activity of the resulting
tars.12 It is to the further reduction
of the carcinogenic materials in to-
bacco smoke that future research ef-
forts should be directed.
Histologic Considerations.-In
view of the varying histological in-
terpretations of lung cancer sections
by different pathologists, a precise
evaluation of epidemiologic back-
ground for two groups of lung cancer
patients is difficult even when the
data has been collected and reviewed
at only one hospital. However, the
results of this study are consistent
with previous publications suggest-
ing that though both Kreyberg 1 and
2 lesions relate to cigarette smoking,
there are certain epidemiological
differences between the two groups.
In a Kreyberg group, the male to
female sex ratio is greater, the sub-
jects smoke significantly more and
there are fewer nonsmokers. A male
Kreyberg 1 group also tends to be
older and includes a lower percent-
age of Jews than a male Kreyberg 2
group. These differences may be be-
cause the cells that convert to Krey-
berg 1 lesions have a greater sensitiv-
ity to exogenous carcinogens than
the cells involved in Kreyberg 2
lesions and also because of the great-
er tendency for the latter type of
lesions to arise in the absence of
exogenous influences. It is suggested
that epidemiologic studies on lung
cancer should continue to separate
Kreyberg 1 and 2 lesions.'°
Epidemiologic Considerations.-
As in all epidemiologic studies, one
must consider a possibility that a
person's reply to questions may be
influenced by bias or error in recall.
Individuals in the present study
tended to recall well the brand
or brands predominantly smoked.
While there was some switching
from one nonfilter brand to another,
or from one filter brand to another,
or from nonfilter to filter cigarettes,
there were no individuals who
changed back to nonfilter cigarettes
after more than one year on filters.
There may be come error in recall
of the precise duration of filter
smoking but in general we assume
that no difference exists in the ac-
curacy of recall between the study
and control patients. There is a po-
tential bias, however, in smoking
histories reported by lung cancer
patients because the general popula-
tion is obviously far better acquaint-
ed with the association of smoking
and cancer than ten years ago. A
Gallup Poll described in the New
York Times found the majority link
cigarettes and cancer (18, 1969).
The present study should be re-
garded as a preliminary report on
continuing efforts to monitor the
epidemiologic background of lung
cancer patients. However, the find-
ings of this study in respect to filter
cigarettes are being reported because
they are not only biologically reason-
able and in line with other findings
reported in a retrospective study in
the literature," but also because the
results could be of practical value
and justify further efforts to produce
less hazardous cigarettes. Of course,
as in all epidemiologic investiga-
tions, the possibility that an un-
known factor or factors, .which cor-
relate with use of filter cigarettes
actually provide the correct explan-
ation of the difference, cannot be
excluded. For example, those who
switch to filter cigarettes may also
inhale less and it may be the reduced
inhalation rather than the decreased
tumorigenie activity of filter cigar-
ettes that accounts for the difference.
Only further investigation can clari-
fy these issues.
Subsetluent epidemiologic investi-
gations in this area will have to con-
tain a far larger number of subjects
so that the risk by various types of
cigarettes, ie, cigarettes made of dif-
ferent kinds of tobacco and with
different types of filters, can be as-
sessed. Tar and nicotine levels in
any one brand of cigarettes usually
remain parallel so that the risk for
-smokers of.different types of cigar-
ettes to develop a variety of diseases,
in addition to lung cancer, must be
JAMA, Sept 28. 1970 Vol 213, No 13 Lung Cancer-Wynder et al 2227

considered. It is well known that
cigarette smokers have an increased
mortality and morbidity rate for
myocardial infarction especially
among men under the age of 50
years.°'35 In the final analysis, the
judgement of whether one cigarette
is less harmful to man than another
cigarette can only be made by mea-
suring its long-term effect on man
himself.
Preventive Considerations.-
Clearly, the most successful way to
reduce the risk of lung cancer is not
to smoke cigarettes in the first place
or to give up smoking as early in life
as possible.
While individual motivation to
cease smoking can and has accomp-
lished much, the great number of
Americans who still smoke cigar-
ettes suggests that the large-scale
educational efforts against smoking
are not likely to be entirely effective.
For this reason, we must implement
deliberate managerial measures of
the type classically so successful in
solving public health problems in
the past to do their share in reducing
the risk of lung cancer and other
tobacco-related diseases. While in-
dividual motivation should be en-
couraged more than ever, manager-
ial preventive measures affecting
the entire population of smokers
must be expanded. The undertaking
of effective prevention in this area
is the responsibility of all-the gov-
ernment, the tobacco industry, the
health professions, and the general
public. With the burden to effect
change placed on the shoulders of
society as a whole, it is society that
will reap the harvest of its actions in
years to come.
Conclusions
This study was based on 350 lung
cancer patients seen at the Memor-
ial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
between November 1966 and August
1969.
As in previous studies, cigarette
smoking is strongly associated with
cancer of the lung. This association
is greater for the squamous and oat
cell types than for the glandular
type even though the latter is also
related to cigarette smoking.
A lower relative risk of lung cancer
(Kreyberg 1 group) was found for
individuals who had smoked filter
cigarettes for at least ten years after
switching from nonfilter cigarettes
than for those who continued to
smoke nonfilter cigarettes. Since fil-
ter cigarettes tend to be lower in tar
than nonfilter cigarettes, the results
suggest that a reduction in tar yield
of a given strength will be associated
with a decreased risk for lung cancer
unless the smoker compensates for
the lower tar dosage by smoking
more cigarettes.'s
The lung cancer risk for indivi-
duals who smoked only filter cigar-
ettes cannot be determined at this
time.
The relative risk for lung cancer
among exsmokers continues to be
high for at least three years after
ce-,sation of smoking. Thirteen years
after an individual has stopped
smoking the relative risk appears to
be close to that of individuals who
never smoked.
Further efforts to produce less
harmful tobacco products should be
continued and expanded although
not smoking or cessation of smoking
is the most effective prevention
against lung, cancer.
This studv was supported by the Ameri-
can Cancer Society grant Ep-1 and in part
by 1'ublic Health Service research grant
CA-08748 from the National Cancer Insti-
tute.
E. Cuylet' Hammond, ScD, and Jerry
Cornfiel<i provided statistical advice in the
preparation of this communication.
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