Tobacco Documents Online

. ._.~... . : - . - I r FRON.: Hill and Rnoxiton, Inc., 150 E. 42nd St., Hew York 17y N.Y. (OXford 7-5600) YCR: firJHACCO IIIDUSR4tY RffiEA.CH CCa'1WIYB FaFt RBtEASE FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1963 GAPB STILI. EXIST IN ]QiOWIEDCE CF ItJti(3 CANCF1t AND MRT DISrrASE, BAY6 LIlTIE Research stullies have increased factual kno,4edge about lung cancer, heart diseases and other ail.ments but "great sad critical" gaps still exist, the scientific Director oi the lbbacco Industry Researo.b Comaittee said today in Ris Annual Report. `There does not exist tLe•essential experimental and clinical knowledge vith vhicb science can even define or identM the nultiple factors or iai7.uences that taqy contribute to the origin and progress of these diseases," sAid the 8eport of Dr. Clarence Cook Little, internationally lmoxn cancer researcher and founder of the Rascoe B. Jackson Memorial laboratory at Bar Sarbor, He. . _een cont .iaue.-to be_. .spec....ul.. .----.ations .. ._ and opinions on._..tbe.- ."Phere bsveb aad vill causes," he wrote, "but it is a tatter of scientific f+4ct t},uat, in our present state of knowledge, no one knows the aasvers.' . Be said that in an effort to help find the answers, the T.X.R.C. last year continued and ezpanded its support of research by independent scientists into sone of the wny clinieal and experinental factors that'still need to be identif'ied, iavestigated and evaluated in consideratioa of the origin of lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other coaplex constitutional ail.ments. Dr. Little's Annual Report describes relevant research findings and studies •t i reported in 1962, and also includes abstracts of scientific articles publisbed oa investigations suppo7ted by T.I.R.C. During 1962, Dr. Little said, "scientific vork continued to support the viev that the quest for a single, simple 'nagic bullet' to explain the causes or provide the cure for cancer and of heart disease is unrealistic and probably futile. - nore - 11312128 CTR NN 043 e- 03

• 2 - "The interaction of maay constitutional and environmental factors end influences, soex of which still mey be undetected, is becooting increasingly evident," be said. "F1or this reason alone -- the tact that research indieates a possible involvement for these many factors and influences -- it is at present scientifically unwiee and indeed ms,y be harmful to attribute a siMle, definitive causative role to aqv one oi them, or to attesrpt to assign them relative degrees of importance. "'1'he smoking of tobacco continues to be one of the subjects requiring study in the lung cancer problem, as do man,y other agents and in2luences in n:odern living. Science does not yet know enough about en,v suspected factors to judge vhetber they may operate alone, whether they msy operate in con3unetion vith others, or whether they may affect or be affected by factors of vbose existence science is ziot ye't avare. Ihdedd, Yt is not knovn whether tbe tactors actually are•~causative' ::_...._.... __in..any'rea7:•sense:' i 1Lc. Idttle said the gaps in lmovledge of the caases of cancer and of heart ' diseases result "in a large degree from the lack of adequate and controlled athoda ! of bioassay of suspected processes or substances, and from the absence of controlled clinical studies ttill,v utilizing available biochemical tests of metabolic and horwooaL ebaagm and 8ere,lepaeata under Qitlea*nt p27siea]., pt7siol.ogiotl, and s+ental env3ronments.• Be noted that vhile reviexs and reports have eontinued to appear, based icostly on statistically-oriented surveys, "the anquestioning, unreserved enctorseoenV, as conclusive, of each svch repetitive report, which contains no new or original data but amounts to a stateaent of opinion, is a disservice bo true scientific research. 'This places an obstacle in the path of accurate recognition and analysis of the problenc that reoain before us," be vrote. - more - 11312129 CTR I l( I ld•  1w+• ~y.n 04

C 7 -3- "It i.s hoped that it may soon be possible for various interested organiaations, nov oonducting or supporting research IndependentJ,y of one anotber, to cooperate in orgeniting programs of more sophisticated aad potentie.lly more significant studies aimed at filling the gaps in ow lmovl•edges" Dr. Little seid. "R$ie should lead to progress more intelligently than does exploiting exclusively any one over-sivaplified bypothesis of specific envirombental causation or of selective,emphasiB on aay one factor statistically associated with certain I causes of deatb." The Annual Report said tLat the Scientific Advisory Boara, eaMosed of doctors, scientists and educators sho are responsible for T.LR.C.'s research program, W z&U gxants to nesrly 140 independent irrrestigators in mocare then 90 hospitals, universities and research institutions thrroughrxtt the eountry. Me T.T.R.C. has so fsr appropriated $6,250,000 for the res.eexcb program. IacluQed.in tLe.Repor,t.are abs,tracxj.ct60_pu,Al,cA7.Itad.stCltnt,itte..papexB-..__ publisbed in 1962 by scientists xta received T.I.H.C. grsnts. A totel of 282 such papers vere published by grant recipients through 1962. Dr. Little, nov Director Eiaeritus of the Roscoe B. Jackson Menoriel laboratory, vss Msnaging Director of vhat is nov the American Cancer Society S%rom 1929-1945. Former president of the Universities of Naiae and Hichlgan, ht is a menber of the National AcaQemy of Sciences and the author of numerow articles, reports and books dealing vitb genetics and cancer research. The 'B,bacco Industry Researcb Coemittee was forsed in 1954 by representatives of tobacco grovers, leaf vsrehousemen, sad manutlacturers to provide support for independent scientific research into tobaoco tu e and 2umea health and to mnke the facts knovn to the public. 11312130 J CTR f f N 0'4"B~'~.. 05-