Tobacco Documents Online

NEWSWEEK Dec. 25, 1967 MEDICINE . Clearinb the Air Whether they smoke or not4 city dwell- ers have a hinher dcath rate from lung cancer than do residents of farms and small to.vns. The tobacco industry, there- fore, often argues that urban air pollrr- tion, rifher than cigarette smol:ing, should bear the major blame for lunu can- cer. But last week, a five-year, statewide study of lung-cancer rates eonducted by a California State Department; of Public Health team cleared the air of this charge. Even the notorious smog of Los Angeles, the researchers concluded, does not seem to cause lung cancer. In the study, reported in the journal Cancer, Drs. Lester Breslow•w anci! John E. Dunn~ Jr. and statistician, Philip Iliiell surveyed the smol:ing , habits and hmfi- caucer death rates amongsome i0,0010California men more than 25 years old. Los Angeles, with some 3 million cars emitting hydrocarbons that are oxidized in sunlight, had the highest level of air pollution. But Angelenos had n' lower lung-cancer death rate than did resirlcnts of the San Francisco Bay Area or San Di- ego, The combined death rafe in the Bay Area and San Diego, the study showed, was 106 ' per 100,000: "man years," but in Los Angeles it was:97. At the same time, the investigators found, the rate of lung cancer was nine times higher among smokers in Los Angeles than among non- smol:ers in the city. "Tllis," said 13r('slo.v, "confirrns that cigarette smoking is the outstanding cause of lung cancer." Still,, Breslow stressed that LA smog is a hazard all the same, causing eye ir- ritation and aggravating respiratory ail- ments. Ide and his associates also noted that there is an "urban factor" that in- creases the ri'sk of lunu; cancer for city da,cllers. The lung-canccr death rate amout; Californians living outside the three met'ropolitan areas in the study was only %tpcr 1(D0;0O0. I1lc*slow refuses t'o~ specuiirte on what the urbarr~ fcrct'or mitlht be. i3lit sor,ic researchers; s rspcrr•t that certaiu citv occutn:rtions-t);ir;ticirlarlti, in- dustri.ill jolss-rnav account for thcc arlcli, tional risk; uncl other doctors have snsy- geste(U that there rni-Iht ( e;m cmcotional conrpouent to the hi,tllcr rlo.rtli r.rtcti, rc- 1:4ted to the t'ensionsofbi"~citylife: page 41. 4 ~.1~rtiv¢ e 19.