Tobacco Documents Online

c Founded in lSfl l -]ItTRRAYJ.GART6 Ediror sinxev r.7srtrt+. s.n.,.. FW~b. crnnrM. rooei~a . earu..~ rw c.u.. RMLiA svANS., lAWDARA CGFEN. xwrWtt6(a.. SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 1'978' \ ` D~.. ~ori's,arde~l Dr. Gio Gorvs recent musings with an Assoa- - ated' Press reporter about cigarette smokingg and the epidemiology of lung cancer have flushedithe SavanaralAs of'the anti-nicotine cru- sade fromitheiu+3airs: - The secretary'of Htalth,, Education and Wel= fare, a reformedi smoker, seemed to be leading the charge of'the hot-gospelers against Dr. Gori~ with,one of'IvSr• Et21ph~Nader's-healt:h1 researcli- crs, Dr., S•idney' Wolfe;,not far to the rear. INIr.. Califano„ who has been spreading the gospef of' abstinence;, is deeply, perturbed. Dr.' Wolfe proposed what once was cailed!the short way'wfth sitmers: Dr. Gori, he said, should be, -` fired f'or makdng; "the most damaging statement about smoking in the last 10 years." There are even rumors that Dr. Gori, who as deputy direc- tor of'caacer prevention at NIH is within Nir. C`.alifaao's adinisrisirative reach4 might be re1o+ catedi To Siberia, perhaps? What' did Dr. Gori do to incite this wrath? The best approach may be to ask,what' he did not _ say. He did not'echo President', Carter's recent '_-statement'in the tobaccoland citadel of Wilson,, I+IiC., that the U.S. needs research "to make:the :'smoking of tobacco even: more safe than it is, today" - a curious l'ocution from, which the literal-minded might gather thatl fluure'tobacco : research would build from a solid foundation of :'satety. (One might as logically speak of a pro- gram to make bullets "even more saf'e" for human intake.) 141or did' Dr. Gori tn•gp : people to smoke more, or say' that cigarettes are safe. "Ilie onlq, ciga-' ; rette that is saf'e,'• said he, "is the cigarette that "" . isn't lit." We would' not be surprised if' Dr. Gori personally feels, as we do, that'; if' people hadi been intended to suck smoke into their lungs they woultl'be born with a portable tobaeco: : _ patch: > - What Dr.' Gori was saying: it appears, is a) that',cettain cigarette,brands recently produced " after costly research, some of,which he named; are far llower in toxi.c tars and nicotine thann others:- so much1ower that it woutd take from 3 to 23 of them, to equal the toxic kick of only two of'the older, deadlier vintages; ar.d b) tliat„as a ntatter of'statistical,probability„the new brands -might be smoked in limited' numbers with °tolerabl'e'•'imptvbability of self:injury. "I am: - not talking about what might happen i to any indi-" vidhal," he said, "I arrk talking about aver ages:"Dr. Gori and his research associate, Dr. Cor nelius Lynch, are excited by' the prospect that cigarette-induced illness may be on the way down as a~public health hazard. "If we could!go from 100;D00 cases of lung cancer a year to, say', 7;00p' or 3.000 .., .: I would' think we would have made a,tremendous public health gain." And so we would'have. Tbere are two evident lessons in the Gori; flap, one slightly comic and the other rather oasinous : The comic part is that vested economic and psychological interests swirling about the smoking-and-health issue are such that a reputabie, researcher muses about', epidemic probabilities at',tlu,risk of being slyly exploited by those,who think, smoking is good for you, or at least would like to have you think so. As for those who have decided thatsmokdng,is bad forthemspives, and throb to dragoon every- one else into their company, the, situation is roughly parallel; but more ominous: In their eyes, apparently; there are no innocent facts or opinions about'cigarettes and cancer, however "scientific" or detached from ulterior motive. Not even Dr. Gori's carefiili disclaiaers, excuse him f'or: running the risk of misinterpretation. By such standards,, most'scientists would have to take a vow of,silence. To measure the danger of that' reaction, and how threatening'it is : to detachedd comment on a vital issue of public health, merely imagine that Dr. Gori had spoken of' encosmaging findings about some other, hazard - carcinogenous food additives, say, or alcohol - and ask yourself whether the reaction would be as furious. The fact is that people will,eat rich foods„will •-nnbibe spirits, and will even, smoke cigarettes despite the evidence that:itis no service to good health to do so. Since that is so, more power, to researchers who ~ merely put smokers on notice that: while any smoking may be uasafe some cigarettes are statistically' less deadly than others. And shame on,those who treat them~as if' they were beatingthe drums for cigarettes'and,, indeedl for lung cancer.