Tobacco Documents Online

` .t"~FF~~i'~^~~'iF„r,~'S KR~~f ~' Caused Rash hat Of Cancer Scares? t+ 4~ilmington, North Carolina i °.~:we didn't hear much yelping from : November 28, 1959' ' .Tar Heels when Health, Education and Welfare Seeretary Arthur S. Flemming tossed his pre-Thanksgiving " cranberry, scare at the nation = + I,,,possibly because cranberries are a l"•-emore or Iess minor crop 'm North Carol4na.:~.., But the blast 6y Surgeon Gen. Leroy E. Burney against cigarettes as the main cause of lung, cancer is quite another story. Tobacco is North Carolina's big.erop•, i, ' .- We don't know` how many persons were affected by the cranberry scare, but' there are approximately 58 mil- Iion smokers in the United' States. We 'doubt' if many of them will give up 'i'cigarettes in' time for Christmas solely on the Surgeon G'enerall§ warning: Carl T. Hicks, a farmer and presi- dent of the Tobacco Growers Infor- mation 'Committee in Carolina has launched a strong counter-attack. He " charges that Burney's conclusions as written in the Journal, of the Ameri- can Medical Assoc., are based on "the same old worn-out statistical studics" that have never proved conclusively that cigarettes have any direct con- nection with lung cancer. , ~::, Of course, the Surgeon General ad- mitted that there are other factors _=whioh contribute to the cause - such as air pollution. The major sources of air pollution are exhaust products of gasoline and diesel engines - a ""'"point-we made in a recent editorial: Burney further admitted that the lung cancer incident is higher in urban areas than in rural areas where air pollution is nonsiderably less. We don't doubt for one moment'that ther2 are a awful lot of cigarette smokers among the tobaceo farmers and their families i~ North Carolina. Yet' we don't recall that the incident of lung cancer Is particularly high among them. We are certainly all!for cancer re- search. We hope that one day this dread disease will be stamped out en• tirely, or at least brought to the point' where it can be controlled. But until the experts have definite proof as to what actually causes lung cancer, we think they would' do well to get off the publicity train. Mixed Reception Whatever else cam be said'for the federal gov- ernment, it' keeps life from getting dull. ,,.,{',' ';; ' The controversy over cranberries had not grown cold before the surgeon general of the United States _.' was out with a warning, of growing evidence which he says links smoking with lung cancer. The reaction was immediate. The tobacco In- dustry, as might' be expected, set up a long loud how1. Tobacco shares on Wall Street were off sev- eral points. The smokers are yet to be heard from. The tobacco-cancer ca, is nothing new. Quite the contrary, It is several years old' and the surgeon general appears to have presented little new in the way of' statistical information except to state his beliefs in stronger terms. The government, has a responsibility to warn citizens of anything which might affect the public liealth. It also has a responsibility to be direct and conclusive in its warnings and certainly it' has the facilities to prove its points before reaching for the ry panic button: 1 Whether it's cranberries or cigarets, it appears ;tt the governmenC has been something less than cn o ;1 clusive and is not too certain at times of its own ~sJ findings. Until it is, there will be a mixed reception for them and'more than lingering doubt in the minds of many. . .. w:~ . <2te