Tobacco Documents Online

1 Exhibit 6 * 471 AFFIDAVIT OF MARIANO F. LA VIA, M.D. 1. 2. 3. 4. Mariano F. La Via, M.D. being sworn, says: I am Mariano F. La Via, M.D., an immunologist and pathologist. I am a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. I am a member of several scientific societies, including the American Association of Immunologists, the Clinical Immunology Society and the American Society for Experimental Pathology. My curriculum vitae and list of publications is attached. As an immunopathologist and researcher I have long been interested in the body's immune response to cancer, and more specifically in the possible role of immune mechanisms in the causation of neoplasia. My own research has examined some of the ways in which altered immune function may fail to control the growth and spread of cancer cells. In 1983, I presented testimony to a subcommittee of the United States Congress regarding smoking and cancer. A copy of my testimony is attached. I I

believed at that time, and still believe, that the cause or causes of many cancers, including the cancers that some claim are caused by smoking, still elude us and that many of the mechanisms that make cancer cells grow and invade are still obscure. 5. Many other scientists presented testimony at the hearing. Some concluded that smoking causes cancer and others shared my opinion that a relationship between smoking and cancer has not been scientifically established. 6. My own research and continuing review of the scientific literature relating to cancer indicate that the difference of opinion about the relationship between smoking and cancer has existed for decades and continues today. Mariano F. La Via, M.D. Swo n•to bef e me this ' C day of ` U Zc~ 1990. r- l. o NOTARY PLyDLIC 2