Tobacco Documents Online

How bogus science I olds us in its thrall I I I I I I I I I I I CHRISTOPHER BOOKER'S ANYONE doubttng the ,~owur el the unholy mar. rt,~ge between pelt[teal cot. ~¢ctnc~s and bo~us ~nt contemplate ~rama that ~e~n w~ea this new~papcr revealed l~st wee~ ~hat t~ World Gr~an~att~n had supp~ssa~ a m~)ur ~¢tent~fic study ~cause it faded to conh~ the dogma that passtve smo~m~ can c=ust cancer, key the antvto~acco lobby this ~ the supreme ~tc[~ of ~a~ta, and on Wcdnesd~.i¢ h=~ bacR with a counr¢rblast, ~n;ch was rep~¢~ under such he=dilate ~s "Smoking ,n t~e ~ome '~lls babies' " A particularly co~cal ~u~ of this emotive cla~ cau~= o~ co~ d~aths is th~way tt m~nagcs ~o overlook fact ~hat tn 1948, when a ~. cord 8~ per ce~t o~ B~n's ~dul[ p~pulatlon smoked. dea[hs ~ere unsown. They appeared only m about 1950 and continued ~o ~se for years, when ~ac aumb~ el ~mokcr~ was ateeply falling, ~owever, a more dev==t=t. mg ¢ffc¢¢ of ~ogma wedded to bogus science wall hh us on Janua~' l, 2000, when the EU's bau on leaded petrol The angus agamsc leaded pc~l appea~d m the US ~c I~60~, when == was suggest~a ~hat ,:h~ldren's Fuelling dissent: the dlsappearahce of leaded petrol will levels in humans had been consistently falling since lead was first put rote petrol in the I920s to increase per. formancc and prevent wear. This was becaus~ rcaI cause of lead potso~iRg was not pe~rot, but water p=pes and cooking utensils, Lead from petrol fails harm- Icssly on the roadside. One after 3noll~er, the ~ct- cntif~c studies used re pro- mote the cause were dEscred- Red. But so beguding was the beli~ that le~d in petrol was a me}or evil of ottr saUon that over the past two decades its use has been phased out, and now the ~s abou¢ ¢o ban ~t ahogeebcr. The trouble =s thm~ a~ mo~ than 7 m~lion vehicles in Bneain that use leaded per- tel and, ~or m=ny ~v~s, the disappearance of ~our-s~ar pet~l wdl mvo~v¢ much con- fusion and expense, For acariy 4 mdlion st~r ~oton~ts. the swttch. over ~ay po~e IttLlc problem. of about three million pre- 1990 veh=clcs will have Co pay between £200 and £I,000 to replace the cylinder head, or will have to use fuel "improved" with additives re m~mlc the protective bane. fits of lead. Already on the market a~ products that a d~ver can add to unleaded fuel. at a cost ~f ~ for each tank[ul, and oil companies The lead from four-star petrol falls harmlessly on the roadside are working to find an effcc- tiw: "lead-replacement pet- rol", which will be more exp,:nitre and available in fewer outlets than four.star :\Ithou~h the only ~ay to avoid these continttmg costs w~I b~: tO DaY hundreds of pounds ~o co~vert t[1c car to t~l.,~ ~t~',~3dcd. there are Involve much confusion every mechanic will do the job properly, resulting in ~h~ loss of an entire engine, while some classic-car owners fear their models could bC forced off the road altogether. Why the EU is imposing all this pointless hassle is bizarre. Since iL has already introduced legislation tl~at would result in the phasing out of leaded petrol ~s most eider cars were taken off th~ road, the txtrcis~ could have taken place voluntarily and gr~duil[y, leavi~ a problem ooly for the minority of cias- stc-cflr owlltrt whose vehi. des w~rc not conve~iblc. Yst the ~s~urt to switch was all unnecessa~ in the first place. Pollut~on ~rom the ca~alytic convert~rs the EU has now ma~e compul- sory on ~RW ca~ ca~ be worse when those are run. ning ~Refficiendy than thing c~sscd by cn~ines run- ning oo four-star. ~e rea~ moral i~ that this is simply another pointlesS victory for a seif-nght~ous lobby tha~ ~o~ evcm aware that its