Tobacco Documents Online

Februarry,~ 19bt' TOBACCO ` `lExperimental and'~ ` Clinical Stud'ies by P. S. Larson, Ph.Ds, H. B. Haag, M.D. and H. Si'lvette, Ph.D. Published by Wil. ;r,'lieRns & Wilkins Co. Price $20 00 Pp. 932 including index „' ;.i- !•`Tobacco" is a totally impossible must be "Remanded for further evi- boak to review with any sense of ade- dence." quacy. As the authors state it is; "a •. "Tobaceo" is recommended parti- ; comprehensive account of the world cularly for the experimentalist but `, literature" covering an analysis of lts full discussion of the clinical over 6000 published papers up to , aspects of smoking (of 78' pages re- :~ 19bJ: It is a•physicallq large book, viewing, the smoking=lung cancer ~th 8~,y" x 1'1" pages and weighs literature alone), makes it of much ,'I}early 6% lbs. It has over 900 pages,' broader interest to all scientifically : with ,.' 109 page& of' bibliographic. trainedl men and women. One can references. The format is of' the' onUy humbly express admiration for double column variety for the text, the colossall task the authors under- and triple columned for the bilio- took and succeeded in accomplishing graphy and index. It is divided into $o' magnificently {': 22 sections plus two appendices on r' chemical and biological methods, as well! as notes on the pharmacologyy of' certain nicotine derivatives: - There has probably never been ~ such a completely documented voi- ume on any substance from t'Ha physiologic, biochemical; chemical, pharmacologic and medical view points. But as the authors point out in their introduction "this mono- graph does not represent the last word omt'obacco, only the millions of words ... written ... so far. What justifies these millions of words ..:' is the simple fact that millions of' persons have used; do now use, and ... will continue to use tobacco." The book will undoubtedly become tHe standard' reference volume on -the subjects of tobacco and nicotine, and we can only hope that there wi31 . be a comparable supplemental re- 'view every four or five years to keep the fantastically voluminous liter- ature in perspective. There isi no doubt regarding the sincere objectiiv_ ity of'the authnrs, who indeed fre-• quently lean over backward in this rega'r.ad when for examp4ediscussing certain of the controversial aspects of experimental carcinogenesis in `animals and cancer in man.. - The impression which is given by the authors in "their"' running dis- eussion of the various clinical re- ports they cite, is that they are still open minded, but highly skeptical of' the relationship of smoking to lung and other forms of cancer, or to cardiovascular disease. "The rela- tionship between tobacco use and cardiovascular disease may in time be elucidated but' in spite of'the mass of experimental and clinical ma- terial . . . this relationship . . is now not at all easy to discern." As they state "Our own 'fverdict°f' inn what' must be considered only a'fpre- liminary hearing" in the case of Science versus Tobacco smoking '