Tobacco Documents Online

( C Smoking in public places ................ PROFESSORS DISAGREE Dr. David W. Cugell Is smoking in public places hazardous to the health of non- smokers? Two Medical School pro- fessors differ on the degree of hazard: Dr. Hiram T. Langston, professor of clinical surgery, and Dr. David W. Cugell, professor of medicine. Each gave his views recently in con- secutive Newsfeed radio broadcasts, excerpts of which follow. Dr. Langston: "It is my view that the amount of passivesmoke - someone else's smoke-that is actually absorbed by the nonsmoker is insuffi- cient to represent a health hazard by any standard that has been devised. The nonsmoker actually absorbs a very •small fraction of the smoke - it has been calculated to the extent of a hun- dredth or possibly even a thousandth of a cigarette per hour ... even though it may be objectionable, it does not con- ' stitute a hazard to health. "Now when you take someone who is crippled by emphysema, for in- stance, the addition of the irritant which smoke may provide to him may heighten some of his already existing NU news briefs • A $3.1 million grant from the John L. and Helen Kellogg Foundation will be used to establish the John L. and Helen Kellogg Center for Excellence in Community Cancer Care at Evanston Hospital (a member of The McGaw Medical Center). The grant will fund construction of facilities at the Evanston Hospital site ($1.8 million) and establish a chair to support the management and programs of the center ($1.3 million). Dr. Edward F. Scanlon, professor of surgery and chairman of surgery at Evanston Hospital, has been named chairman of the Cancer Care Center. • The Dental School is establishing a Forensic Dental Identification Unit. Under the direction of Dr. Edwin S. Smith, chairman and associate professor of diagnosis, the unit will utilize Dental School specialists to help identify deceased persons with antemortem and postmortem dental charts and X-rays. In addition, continuing education programs will be offered for practicing professionals and dental students. • Professor Marshall S. Shapo, nationally recognized authority on tort law, has developed a contemporary definition of the duties of both private persons and government toward other individuals. In his new book. The Duty to Act - Tort Law, Power, and Public Policy (University of Texas Press, 1978), Shapo writes of the complex law surrounding personal injuries and emphasizes "power relationships." According to Shapo, "It is useful to speculate about the potential application of this power-based analysis of duties to act to such controversial areas as welfare law, medical care, municipal services and educational standards." • Michael Jerome Hopkins, NU senior majoring in mathematics, is one of 32 American students selected as Rhodes scholars for study at Oxford University in England this year. Another NU senior. Alan O'Donnell, made the finals of the Rhodes scholarship competition. (See story on page 5.) . Dr. Hiram T. Langston complaints. But I am not aware of any reason why this should constitute an additional health hazard to the man." Dr. Cugell: "So called secondhand smoke can precipitate asthma attacks, and it can increase the blood carboxyl- hemoglobin level. This can have an ad- verse effect on people with coronary artery disease and can be deleterious to people with various cardiopulmonary afflictions. And youngsters with respiratory problems are in a much greater risk of having serious dtifficul- ties from airflow obstructions and se- cretions, asthma attacks and infection. "In people who are otherwise healthy, we can't definitely say there's any permanent hazard in exposure to other people's cigarette smoke; but to patients in whom there is definite dis- ease, the hazard of smoke is a real one." Other recent Newsfeed broadcasts include: "What Lies Ahead for Private Higher Education?" (NU-Day dialogue between Presidents Robert H. Strotz and Hanna H. Gray); "Features and Effects of President's Anti-inflation Program" (Robert J. Gordon, profes- sor of economics); "Job Prospects for College Graduates" (Victor R. Lind- quist. associate dean and director, Placement Center), and "Serious Foot- Q ball Iniuries" (Dr. Stephen E. Reid, CJ profeswr of surgery and N U team phy- 3 sician). (J If you have a suggestion for a future CD Ne«.+1crd story, call John Horton or A Tom Sharpe at University Relations: extension 5000.  h• 1I

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