Tobacco Documents Online

O + "c t s{3~~n qt' . v. ",. WARDS OF GOVERNMENT - •:W. a` .'rBSES Ci'htnt ;cttan,y te governmen cano Wilson; North Carolina ' F` b:: t:igat eac+ smoking. We read'that -December 91 1o59 not ikcl ia happen, since for the present the government has no author-`S ity to move against' cigarettes for any y~, }' ' r t t!'-',: effect'they may have on health. This .y is what Ovid A. biartfln, Assooiated : Press writer has to say. The statement is the result of the~ ;last government release on the asso- ' aiation of cigarette smoking and lung t+ cancer. To begin with there has never been established any definite proof of, the cause of cancer,lling cancer or any type. Whew this is established the, ,~ American people will be given the tn :-; „formation. The government takes many con- trary positions. The income of the cranberry raisers was wiped out with one swoop when the government is- sued the recall of all cranberries from the grocery shelf. This was the most drastic exercise of authority we have witnessed'tod'ate. The poisonous weed killer has been definitely established. And' it' has been estimated that if you ~ eat a ton of cranberries sprayed with the weed killer, cancer could' develop as it has in rats• ce}a- ~4r So out go the cranberries, then back , they come, supposedly- with all the , poison sprayed berries eliminated. 1Yell, think what a job the government ` has if it tries to take from tts all the„ ~Y liarntful things of life. .. .~ z, There are so many that are harm-' r~ fullwhen taken in excess that few will be left. In fact you couldl expect the government to eliminate all fats in the diet, saying fats cause cholesterol. ~« Then out could go sweets, because ~' candv is said to be one of the major ~; renzons for decay in children's teeth. You see how absurd it all is, this matter of control. If the government"` is to controllthe area is unlimited. But `' -" is it the concern of government? Gov- ernment should inform, it should ad- : vise and then adult' people are sup- posed to have the intelligence to act F ~ for their best interest. iiN'py If the government is to do our thinking for us, we have come to a dreary time in our lives. There is a Department! of Health, Educatton and ~ Welfare. It has a place and an im- -U portant one. But the admini,trators gs s?:ould ncvcr losc sight of the fact that Ttte recent blast' of the Pub. I in causing lung cancer, iis lie Health Service on '•Smok• I these animalsa ing and Lung Cancer"' gives "3: Reveals that human lung us official assurance that i[ fissues under o changes, con• we don't smoke and get lung sidered suspicious by some, cancer anyway - it won't be that are found among both from smoking. young and old, non - smokers This is about as far as any- and smokers, while lung tis- one can go in the L;,ht of sues 'may be perfectly normal present' knowledge• yet, in in heavy smokers'. the effort . to make tobacco "4. Confirms the long - es- appear the culprit% this`GStr talllislaed but little • publicized ernment report drags out tired fact that lUng cancer occurs old', statistics thatt were pre- morefreqpently in people who sented to the public years.ago, h'ave.a medical history of pre- yet admits that experimental vious serious lung ailments, evidence does not'support the such as tuberculosis, pneu• theory of smoking as a cause monirand iissluenra, indicat-of lung cancer. ing a relationship of possible . The Public Health revieww signifrcance." - also admitsth'at we still don't It will berecalled that the know the effect3.ofaitpollu• commotion over lung cancertion and occupational expos- and smoking arose with the ures and that' the tobacco discovery that' laboratory an- ttieory does not explain dif- imats developed skin cancer f.rences in limgcancerinci• after being painted with to- dence rates. bacco "tars". Certainly, the Dr;, C.C. Little;, scient fic failUre ~ of smoke inhalation director of the Tobacco In• tests is more si;iiuificant in dUstry Research Committce• view of the fact that people has spent 50 years in cancer smoke tobacco rather than us• research, notesthatthe report mg it as a cosmctuc. gives little or no attention to All m all, the Public acalth new evidence of recent months review may be cntired for un, that: jue reL ce on the published "1. Finds that people desopinions of those who have cribed as the world's heaviest I been lrone comm tted to the cigarette smokers h.avelow theorythatsmokingis.theprin,lung cancer, death rates com- cipal, cause of IUng cancer., - pared w•iQi~people w'bosmokeo j On balance, most thought•less but' have been long ez• ful people, we believe, will go posed to urban airpoVlution,~i along with Dr. Littlel5sum• "2: Shows that dii•ec2.inhal-I mation that "wea.re onlyaV ation of tobacco smoke by ' the threshold of understanding laboratory animals over long i the breadth 4and depth of the periods of time has notresulted' lung cancer problem". ~~~3s'4 ~so 7 t Americacs are mature people. They do not like being regulated. .. = ~ + When bacco is proven to causey3' lung cancer, this should be told the p e o p l e. All' definite conclusions should' be given. But speculation t:; should not enter into the picture. It is too serious, For anything taken to ' excess is harmful. " ; r We still put! our confid'ence in the "r good common sense of' the American people, after they know the facts. Moderate is the answer, not' regula- tion. O ~ W