Tobacco Documents Online

-17- "We repeat and emphasize that no evidence of any kind has ever been produced that is inconsistent with the view that excessive cigarette smoking is one of the principal causes of lung cancer; that the great preponderance of scientific - evaluation accepts this conclusion; and that it also accepts the mounting body.of evidence indicting the cigarette as a shortener of life. "Your long communication and the enclosures thereto contain the dissenting views of various scientists who do not accept these conclusions. Some of these quotations are statements out of context which we believe do not fairly r epresent the scientist"b true opinion. Other quotations are from memoranda prepared-by staff members of the Society for the consideration of its committees, and unless and until they are approved by the Board,.they are not Society policy. "Nothing new was presented to change the conclusions of our Board as to the validity of its conclusions reached well over a year ago; of the wisdom and necessity of the actions since then, and of the consistency of these actions with the objectives of the Society in the fight on cancer ... "It is not necessary for every scientist to accept this conclusion nor f or every other possible cause to be excluded before definite public health action is taken. It would cause unnecessary su!'f erinP and death to wait for absolute proof of a relationship betwoen ciParette smoking and lung cancer ... "The futiire coiirsP of action of the Society will be carefully considered and willl bP decided t-y the Foard of Directors. It will

-18- carry out its responsibility to the public as it sees it, based on the premises stated above and subsequent facts as they develop." In November 1.959 Surgeon General Burney made another strong statement on cigarette smoking and lung caneer, which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It concluded, "The weight of evidence at present implicates smoking as the principal etiological factor in the increased incidence of lung cancer." The year 1960 was a particularly important one in the progress being made in informing the public of the relationship between cigarettes and lung cancer. In January 1960, the Board of Directors of the Society stated that in its judgment "the clinical, epidemiologicalg experimental, chemical and pathological evidence presented by the many studies reported in recent years indicates beyond reasonable doubt that cigarette smoking is the major cause of the unprecedented increase-in lung cancer." At the same timP the Board also stated that "c•igarette smoking is a i5ersonal habit and that the risk involved is at the option of the individual. The Society, nevertheless, believes that it has a responsibility to do everything possible within its established policies to reduce the•alarming and rapidly increasing number of deaths from lung cancer. To that end the Society will continue to support research on lung cancer and to promote the widespread dissemination of information regarding causes and prevention of the disease to physicians and to the public with primary initial emphasis on teen-agPrs." An exhibit developed ty the Society on cigarettes and lunr cancer for the medical profession Pntitled, "Lung Cancer and Prevention," was displayed bPforP the American Medical Association's Annual Meeting in June 1960. It pointed up the nhysician's responsibility and oPnortiinit,y to protect the nation's health in relation to cirarPttes and 1imP cancer. A leaflet