Tobacco Documents Online

40 By CARL HEINTZE Staff Writer SAN FRANCISCO-More tional Institute of Health than two score of the in New Zealand, discov- world's ranking experts on ered, in comparing native air pollution gather in the New Zealanders and im- .' University of California migrants only from Great Medical Center here today Britain, that lung cancer for a three-day meeting on rates were about three "The Air We Breathe." times as high among the The meeting, sponsored jointly by the University of California Medical Schoot Immigrants as they were In the native New Zea- land population. and the Tnha.cco Industry Eastcott's findings bear , Research Committee, Is out the contention of some drawing experts from all medical men that cigarette , parts of the U.S:, Europe smoke alone is rlot the an- and as far away as New swer to what is causing in- Zealand. creasing numbers of death The principal topic of the from lung cancer in the series of scientific papers world , . panels and discussions is Eastcott believes that in one word-air, about half of the cases, In- dustrial althought the word dustrial air pollution was a contributing factor. English Is simple, discussing what air is polluted by a record Is happening to man's amount of coal dust and most precious commodity smoke and it has long been and the most important recognized that E n g I i s h part of his environment chronic bronchitis rates far Isn't. exceed those of otter areas iat's In the Air e Breathe? That's onference To f E urope. Even somg, itself rapidly o becoming a universal prob- The New Zealand doctor lem over the populated cautioned, however, that I mankind's ex- the composit_on of English focuses of t than that differe n . istence, is controversial. smog for example in Los Angeles , , . Related to the problem of man's air are the prob- and he hesitated to draw • lems of lung cancer, a med- any conclusions for Ameri- ical subject of deadly in- can scientists about the creasing importance in the q Mlond yof 6- ,tthe cioncludiug U.S. and' Britain, and the da;y of, the conference, will effect of tobacco smoke on be largely devoted to a dis- cancer. cussion of the effects ot (This apparently is the smog and cigarette smoking reason the tobacco industry has contributed $28,000 for the symposium~ although UC says the money has "no strings attached'.") One important paper to be presented at the meeting will be the findings of two five year studies of lung cancer rates in New Zea- land--one of the most smog free populated areas of the world. Dr. David Eastcott, a former worker for the Na- on the human lung. The opposing sides of the cigarette-smog question will be represented by E. Cuyler Hammond, director of the statistical research section of the Medical• F ffairs De- partment, American Cancer Society, and Dr. Joseph Berkson, head of the divi- sion of biometry and medi- caI statistics at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dr. Eastcott will present his paper at this concluding session. NEWS Paterson, New Jersey February 1, 196& Cancer From Pollution? Cancer researchers have completed a study in New Zealand which is worthy of wide consideration. It has yielde& evidence that polluted air is definitely one cause of lunQ cancer. 3 : The study was conducted over a ten- -ear periodi A quarter of a million per- sons who moved from smoggy, industrial England into the unpolluted atmosphere of New Zealand provide& the facts. These people were compare& with the native New Zealanders. It was found that lung cancer was 30 per cent higher among the newcom- ers than among the native-born whites. The study went further and checked on Britons who -wvent to New Zealand relatively late irt life after having lived in England for at least thirty years. The prevalence of lung cancer was 75 per cent higher among them than for New Zealanders of the same age. We have heard a grekt deal about air pollution but few have taken the talk seri- ously. We have air pollution ordinances in most of our large cities but the people who wrote them were most concerned about the soiling of the housewife line of wash. The real danger, the nurturing of cancer, has been overlooked. Generally we have under- estimated the danger lurking in the smoke- stacks and the automobile tailpipes. Dr. 'David F. Eastcott, who supervised the New Zealand study, says that the conclusion is 'inescapable. He declares that lung cancer is a product of total environment-polluted air, smoking and infection and irritation are .contributing factors. :;Y~{: