Tobacco Documents Online

By BEN ZINSER ' A London researcher pro- eer.-causing chemicals In the poses a new theory coneern- smoke-that bring oni can- ; ing , the cause of 11ing , cancer. cer. Dr. R D. Passey of Royal . He also believes climate is. Marsden Hospital t h I nks an, influence-that it causes ' 1 u n g, cancer ; undetected damage to t h e - is a sequel' to :`. breathing system. tissue dia m- . * s * age rather MEAIITWHILE, the con-' ; than, a result troversy over eiearettes andl of' s p e c i'f ilc ~rpt~ lung cancer cont~nu'~ e~" s:" . ~. action of In a review of the subjeett c a n cer caus- in the Journal of' the Amer- . ing agents. ; ican Geriatrics Society, Dr. He ?-Q Louis F e l n e r of Swedish i u1 a t e s that Lk4 4L `%a ' Hospital, Brooklyn, sums up: an excess of ZINSER In the present state of' mucous secretions is t h e knowledge, It is premature. = e o n d i t i p n responsible for to, say that cigarette snnok- ~many lung cancers. ing is the cause or even an : Mucus is sticky and willi ' important cause of lung can- /- cling to a patch of, respira- cer. •. . believes it is the smoke's rritant qualities - not can- tory-tract cell lining for long, ''periodis, he notes. This blanketing action interferes with the normal exchange of gases and cellular fluid in, the underlying cells, he says: . - Dr. Passey believes cig- arette smoke, by its irrit'at- ing action, brings about the. 4hssue changes that lead, to flung, cancer. In other words,, vance New: T heory' ~ng Cancer Cause • He says further: 'The sta- tistical studies relating cig.- arette smoking to lung can- cer seem tia suffer from t'heIhck of suPcificity nf effect." I'o 0353'7W2.3 ENQi,JIREFt' Cincinnati, Ohio July 21, 1962 OnLung Cancet WNDON, July 20 (1 A British cancer expert to- day challenged the theory that a lifetime of smoking can canse-cancer. Dr. R D. Passey; emerittis professor of experianenta1 y pathology' at the University o1 Leeds, explained his think- Ing in the medical iournal Lancet; after studying the smoking histories of 499 men with lung' cancer. Passey said that the.age : when lung cancer depelops. ' is determined' by neither thee amount of I smoke nor the . age at which smoking began. And' if this Is true; he said, tobacco smoke does not act aMubstance causing ma- lignant tumors. He said It Is now accepted that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer, and the heavier the smoking the .greater the risk. "But no where has It been claimed that the heavy smoker is stricken with cancer, earlier than the light smoker," he added. "My figures show clearly that the disease developed at approximately the same age In those who began to smoke earliest and In those who started much later." j