Tobacco Documents Online

,'~?' S K.~ The article by Dr. Dean appeared in the British Medical Journal The UPI story is by science editor Delos Smith fi` t y , c k a ~btA4v ty fJ' t rf(':y.~ ~: ai~tl~ ~i~ fr, Africafri. Stafistics . ~ `j t 'J IN . SAN FRANCISCO CIIROINICILE San Francisco, Caliiornia , November 20, 1959 xzt S. African Lung Cancer Deaths Low London, Oct. 30 (Reuters)-A IeadingSouth Africamdoctor re- ports in the British Medical Journal that~ white South Afri cans-the heaviest'smokersir the world-had ~. a low lunr cancer mortality rate. Dr. CeoRrey. Dean• senior h'onoraryphysician at thehospi- tale of Port Elizabeth. said that the South African city man over the age of 35 smoked an average of 24 cigarets a dayy and his country cousinovcr 35 an accrage of 23~ a day. He concede& that the death rate from lung cancer in South Africa had doubled~ during the last 10 years but, he added, the mortality rate was still relatively low. He blamed the increasing lung cancer mortalityrate among South Atrican,born on "the rapid industrialitationand growth of the cities durin¢ ther-t •. ` ' . ti1rY4i~k Y'. a.':Pallution of Air : ~~.. lamecl in Caricer NEW`YORK,•NOV. 19 ~~Y POLZUTIOY _ .~ ._., (UPI)-Yet another large- ecaie statistical study of a This indicated to Dean at '~• + tlow familiar subject is the $ritish emigrant's 'under '~. antable because it didnit 65 had been subjected to the K ~ get the familiar result. polluted atmospheres at Brit. -'_f .•> It concluded that a greatly ish cities for longer periods , heric pollu- before they moved to the rel• Increased atmos p ^"', tfon over cities may be the atively eleaner atmospherea ,i3. "major factor." in the sharp of South Africa: Relying on - rise in lung cancer deaths other statistical tables, he yq over the past few decades. assumed that the older men 3 It ls notable also because had been in South Africa y, fte basic statistics were the much longer and so had the Jung cancer deaths among ~me risk as natives fhe white population of the Still anottier stailsUcali Llnion of South Africa. This point was a comparison of y~ population sm-Oces,more ciga- lung cancerh death rates in lettes per capita than any cities and in rural districts: "^ . other in the world. ; In South Africa, the rural', But its rate of lung cancer cigarette consumption is com= ,i deaths has been and remains -9arable per capita,Uo that of ... d' low when eompared with the tI'" cities. D?ar 'eaid and if. ': rates -for the United States, i arette smoking were the : the Irish Republic and Great prtneipaT~atKor in Iung can• ' Britain which are second, cery the lung cancer death = ,, third and fourth in per capita rates would be comparable. cigarette smoking. THE DEGREE DOUBf.I\G ." But they weren't. The ur. _ This inspired'Dn Geoffrey baa, rate was much larger -': Dean of Port Elizabeth to thandhe rural. Dean went f(tr- 1 •atudy the well-kept South Af- ther. He compared the relaI rican vital statistics with the tive atmospheric pollution of help of government statisti- South African cities and' Cians. Between 1947 and 1956 showed that generally speak- the lung cancer death rate ing, the deatti rate was " among males doubled. pegged'to the degree of pol- Yet'this was a smaller rate lution. ~ i. ase than in the U S f i . . ncra o or Great Britain. Dean ie• In his report to the British lated this to the fact that Medical Journal, Dean said South African urban atmos- "enviironmental factorsl" had pheres became increasingly to be chiefly responsitile for pollutediin that period. Those the increases in male lung atmospheres were less pol- cancer death rates. One such }uted, however, than those of factor, he said, was cigarette American and British cities: smoking. Dean compared the lung "However," he added, "the' cancer death rate of males relatively lotv incidence of born in South Africa with the lung cancer generally among rates for men who had 'emi- the heavy-smoking South Af- grated'.there from Great Brit- rican men, the higher and >ain and other countries: rapidly rising incidence in Among men who were less the growing cities and'i the than 65,years old when they high incidence in theyounger died, the rate wasA5 per cent age group of immigrants higher for British emigrants from Britain, suggests that' than for natives or for other the air 'pollution which oc. emigrants. Above the age of curs in modern industrial life 65 there was no difference. -smoke, smog, traffic fumes, etc.-may be a major factor."' T7 i