Tobacco Documents Online

® BLADE t 'Toledo, Ohio November 30, 1959 A Burning Issue? ~'ORE FUEL has been added to the smolder- Ing-debate over health and smoktnit by s c~ :REGZSTER i,* ,dT, ~' ~-Surgeon General Leroy)eS Moineso* V.S.. E.Burncy, butf0 ,.ra1t douDttul' that his sfatcmenLe Impilcattng to- q~ ~tp ij)eceInber 1, 1959 =bacco as a cause of lung cancer will stir up a t:ontrovei+aey, matching the Great Cranberry 1-L~ Fiasco. Although Dr. Burney, in an article In the g~ Journal of the Amerlcan Medical As.aoclatlon, 1s careful toclte 81 sclcntffic. experltncntssuppnrt- Ing U!S. Public Health Service conclusinns link- Ing smoking to the growing IunR cancer rate, t his report is merely another rhapter Ih the long debate. The basic qaestlnn of tobacco's role as a causative factor In lung cancer has still not been determined categnrically--althottch Dr. .'. Burney's remarks are the most positive made ?yct by a government acrpcy on the subicet. The smoke had no snimrr, settled from Dr.. Burney's revelations than Dr. C. C. Litlle, art- entlflc director of the tobacco htdustry re- search commlttee, whose Intrresis might be eonstdered more biased than those of the Sur- geon General; spoke out In disagreement. lie described Dr. Burney's findings as a rehash of old statistics, and went on tn suggest that other new experiments In the fleld tend to suppnrt the tobacco Indnsta•y's Elatm that evi- drnce on the matter is cnntrndirtnry. Meanwhile, as thlfr debate amnng the men of >:ciPnce goes on, what ationt-t the millions and: millions otAmericans. whn are apparently wedded to the habit of smnklnc? . ' dudgingfrom the: facts, all the talk abont lung cancer hasn't exactlyruincd: the tnbaccoo market. For precedingDr., Burncy's, article, byy only a few weeks was a report by the Depart- ntent~ of Agriculture that Anu•ribans are puff- ingup a new record this yc.1r.., drspltee the eancer controversey. Cicarrttee production 1n 1959 Is expected to soar io the aslronomlcali total of 485blllion,5 an. Increase of 15 blll!on over last year. And iite output of cigars and cigarlllos likewise Is expected !o hit a record output af nearly 7 bililon: - Closer to home, the Uhin salrs tax depart- tnent noted lust last week that Ohlonns ar, buyingg cigarettes now at the reeardrate of100 million packs a month,, Elther we Amerlbans--inclndlne tliethlnk--Ing men amongus-areg unperturbed.by what-ever evldence.has been inltndnced so far Ilnk-tnc smoking to lung cancer, or the smnktnt hnbit !s so firntly lmbedded In our mores than we are determined to cling to It come wtiall may. Or perhaps there Is a general Incllnalior to view the whole dispute with some degree o0 fatalism. After all, Dr. Burney alsn pmintHd out In hl: article that air pollution is anntherr probable- although lesser-eause of lung cancer. And moae has suggested yet that Americans stoll breathing. Ci~e Up 'C aarettes Ana Cities As Well The gnvernment's chief health offi- cer, the surgeon general, says that the weight of evidence implicates smoking as the main~cause of rising lung cancer. He adds that filter tips developed so far do not do a good enough ;ob of straining out the tars suspect, as cancPt• producers. The surgeon general d^es not stop with that. He declares that, air go1- lution, chiefly industrial smog and au- to exhaust; is a ptouable though a lesser.cause of lung cancer. The evidence is not yet eonclusive,. but there now is too much of it to be dismissed. Plvdently we should give up cigarettes, automobiles, and indus- trial cities, along with cranberries, lipsticks, quiz programs, and dise jockeys. In so doing we all' will live to such a ripe old age that the problem of our care in our senile years will be as formidable a one as that posed by the increase in lung cancer. 6 ~-" ~f.// ON CANC ,ER IINK ; ='.;;The Iowa health depart- ment decided'Monday to leave ; the controversial linking of lung cancer and cigarettes to y' iederal officials . Dr. Leroy E Bumey . surgeon geoeral of the U. S. Public Health Serv- ` lce, last week advised the best way to cut lung can- % cer danger was to quit " smoking. " The public health service 3as concluded that smoking s the principal cause of the ncrease in lung cancer, Dr. Burney said. n.p44 Iowa Health Commissioner ~ . Edmund G.'Zimmerer6 after a staff meeting here Monday„ ~'. said state health officials will :~ let Dr., Burney. "carry the ball" on this one. -"tK:-":0. n 'There's no use getting Into something so contro- ~~ versial If you don't have to," Dr. Zimmerer said. •`, Dr. Zimmerer said' he did ' not take any exceptions to . Dn Burney's Statemer.ts on: the link between cigarettes and' lung cancer. But the link is "not cer,ain;" he said "and it's so controversial that we'll let him carry the ball. "People can use theirr own Judgment, to smoke or not to smoke. Anything we'd say probably wouldn't bave much Influence any. ~, way." The health department's ".I vital' statistics division re- ported lung cancer as the ~p cause of 345 Iowa deaths in 7~ 1955; 379 in 1956; 475 in "' 1957'and 428 in 1958.