Tobacco Documents Online

PHILIP <<ORR'6S INCORPORATED INTER-OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE 100 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017 To: Mr. H. Cullman From: ~ F. S. Newman Subject: • Doll and' Peto Study Date: August 18, 1981 This is further to your recent inquiry about the study by Sir Richard Doll and Richard Peto noted in The Washington Post editorial youirecently sent me. Pat Dacko has a copy of the study in the files she maintains. The study, The Causes of Cancer: Quantitative Estimates of Avoidable Risks of Cancer in the United States Today, was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Tnstitute issue of June, 1981. The study reviews the literature regarding avoidability of cancer. The hypothesis of the study is that cancer may be largely avoidable but that there is little evidence as to the ways of avoiding today's cancers. However, cigarette smoking is regarded as a "well recognized~hazard" and is characterized as "the only cause whose effects are both largely and reliably known." The mortality rates used are epidemiological estimates. There does not appear to be any new finding relating to tobacco. Among the study's conclusions is that diet may be shown to be a:factor in determining the occurrence of a high proportion of stomach and'bowel cancer, and other cancers to a lesser degree, and that it may be possible to reduce cancers by dietary control. However, the authors conclude that there is little reliable evidence at this point. FSN/hm