Tobacco Documents Online

® ~ Y+•v.++r;n,^~.w+~,•1~`^+an•,a+tn,v,.'la+,tvrh.«~{rr~,r.r+rr+rh..**•-a,w,sa•,t!.. ,>r 4yLia C4~ i-PGST TIlli S I~Itl12iD 1L HLtCL1La iCTLB NC1Ll V ' a~ upl ~ i r, b C W$shin(,Tton ,. by his paper i pecember 6; 1 ,~ Surgeon General Burney,n a re ,959 . ~ ant issue of the JournaI of the American riledical i~;er~t l` +„~ fru ~` ~ iij;T yl ' t Association, has put the authority , of the 17arted 4i ' } Stete Pbli Hlth Sic behind thase medi s`` •suceaerve• eel researchers who blame the smoking habit TTrfor the astonishing incidence of un eer in °:American~~ males. The weight of all existingevi- :dence„he says„supports the hypothesis that smok- i)P;~*o ; Ing, and particularly cigarette smoking,' Is •'the Ix principal etiological factor . A:''At the same time the Surgeon General acknowl- ~'; odges that there has as yet been no experimental tonfirmation of the hypothesis. That is to say the experimenters have not'up to now succeeded ia producing malignant lung tumors in laboratory animals by exposing them to tobacco tars or ~ to cigarette smoke. The evidence, therefore, re- ,.'•~mains largely statistical, but it cannot be denied r' that the statistics themselves are impressive and V) :-~,''. ` frightening. The mortalities are lowest among persons who do ' not smoke at all, highest among heavy smokers. The probabilities of lung tancer among cigarette smokers are three times g•eater, than atrong pipe smokers, seven times ' greater than among cigar smokers. . The reasons for this curious disparity remain in the realm of conjecture, but the most plausible conjecture 5 that deep inhalation "is associated almost entirely with cigarette smoking-" t, :~ <:: Even so, there are many aspects of the lung cancer phenomenon that remain deeply plysterious. One of them, is, the fact that the death rate has steadily risen as the death rate ~' from tuberculosis has declined. The Surgeon General cites an English investigator who con- eluded that many who nnw die of lun¢ cancer might; had they been born a century earlier, have died of consumption, and' that predisposing genetical factors are somehow involved. At, any rate, since even non-.smokers do occasionally de- vdop lung cancers, it is clear that smoking is not the only factor. Among the other stronglyy suspected causes is the steadily increasing po1- lution of the atmosphere by various industrial gases, such as smoke, the exhaust from motor vehicles and the bituminous substances used in road construction and paving. Even more mysterious, in view of all pre- eumed factors, is why lung cancer should now be five times commoner among men than among women, although unti: about a generation ago the incidence by sex was pretty much the same., But Dr. Burney, citing a study published last year, asserts that there is now "conclusive evt- dence that non-smoking women have about the riame lung cancer death rate as non,smoking men.^' As for "filter" cigarettes, which now constitute about half the national consumption, they appar- ently afford no real protection. Some of the tar comes through anyhow and the paper itself or the manufacturer's additives also may eon- tain carcinogenic substances. Nevertheless Dr. Burney admits that It is at least' tkieoretically. REFLECT03 Greenville, North Carolina ti Decendoer 1,1959 fluld Back Up ;The .:,- ,.~....ra r~,i ~ ords On ` Smoatm :; Tobacco regions of the South are `now getting"1 some idea of how the cranberry regions of the North . and West felt when the Department of Health,,~yeI-"4 fare and Education made its cranberry calicer aa-~ . nouncement a couple of' weeks ago This time tobacco and smoking are the targets" '~ of tht wi'b th Publ Hlth Ser~ e srongarnagyeiceavice ;t that asserts evidence implicates smoking as the,matn ~ cause of the rising rate of lung caneer.. ~cyl~ -• The so•called "new" information on a hich t e.; announcement was based has beenw contested by'the ~ a ~'<. tobacco industry which naturally does not have a' dis='.•i interested viewpoint on the matter. And so far.the- Public Health Service has not made public this "neav"; V information which certainly it should' do If oa" 'ihe-~, :, other handi the assertions, have been made on'the >basis of old information which already h'a's been avail-":;, able; the Health Service in all: fairness to the industry+, _ and to the public should' frankly say so. ;:: Reaction to the announcement by the public ;, Health Service was immediately reflected in falling ='prices of major tobacco stocks om the stock market. ;ti Further reaction probably will be shown in cigarette ' sales in the future. G'r•tijl': 110:~ That the announcement by the Public Health ;; Servioe is damaging to the tobacco industry-frorri the. grower to the manufacturer-there can be no doubt..,y And certainly the industry is well' within its rights to demand that the government agency responsible fornl, the announcement supply the proof to back up its con= ; , clusions. If no such proof exist's,,then this government 7 agency has done a grave injustice to the tobacco in `' dustry. ' The people of North Carolina-where the tobacco industry is the most important in the entire economy= cannot afford to remain aloof from the situation, In the long run it could have a dramatic effect om the ecor..my of'the entire state, bothlin manufacturing and in agriculture. In the interest of the state as a whole, _- government' o_ffficialfi as well as leaders in the tobacco industry should join in the demand that the Public Health Service back up its statements or back down from them. -;r possible to treat tobacco "so as to eliminate the hazard of cancer." Since, notwithstanding all the warnings, few inveterate smokers are likely to abandon the habit, it seems to us that'the Tobacco Researcti Committee, which has been so busily challenging Dr. Burney's statements, might well divert more of its effort toward discovering and perfecting such a treatment.