Tobacco Documents Online

P•SEMO RANDUM TO : Mr. Kloepfer FROM: Knopick Date: May 2, 1979 Thanx for the NL "special" about Sir Richard Doll. I'think it is exactly the sort of thing we need to make the Newsletter more informative; apparently, also, it is what our readers want. I attended General Motors' press conference this morning for Sir Richard. He should~have had on a-GM blue blazer. Doll said it is a mistake to attribute cancer to recent developments in industrial countries. "I don't expect much trouble from chemicals - introduced in the last 30 years," he said. "Industrial development and high standard of living are not necessarily associated with a high incidence of cancer." Doll said a decrease in total number of cancers among both men and women in industrialized Japan proves industrial causes are not important. Cigarettes cause 40 percent of all fatal cancers in Britain, Doll said. These would be eliminated if the population did not smoke. He also blames dietetic factors, such as amount of fat eaten. TTO asked Doll: "Do you have any second thoughts at all -- since your work does deal with cancer and the environment -- about accepting an award from an industry which is having its own controversies concerning polluting the environment." Doll: "No ....... To be honest with you, No." (Another scribe to me: "He's blushing.") GM Cancer Foundation Pres. then jumped in to explain that "great pains" are taken to separate GM the company from the foundation. Some "old friends" on the committees which picked Doll, by the way, include: Jonathan Rhoads, Benno Schmidt, Lauren Ackerman, LaSalle Leffall, Brian MacMahon, Lewis Thomas, and Arthur Upton. Doll was asked whether he thinks low "tar," nicotine cigarettes are safer. He said he used to be hesitant about these but is now "extremely encouraged." Current evidence, he saict, shows that these cigarettes "can materially reduce hazards of one disease (lung cancer) without increasing the incidence of other diseases." He claimed these cigarettes are responsible for a dramatic drop of lung cancer among men in England. CONFIDENTIAL: Tj.NIN 0110278 MMINNESOTA TOBACCO LITIGATION

• r (2) MEMORANDUM TO . FROM: Dat e : Doll said the man who changes from cigarettes to cigars is "in a fool's paradise" unless he stops inhaling. He said, thougYi, those smoking only cigars have no increased risk, compared to the nonsmoker, for contracting lung cancer. Asked about marijuana and disease, he said there is no data. Doll said his current research shows no difference in the ways the two sexes respond to tobacco smoke, given that they expose themselves to the same dose. He currently is studying oral contraceptives and disease, he said. GM said it is giving these awards so that the "total cancer effort will be enhanced by greater recognition of individual effort in cancer research." They said the "Nobel Prize is rarely awarded for cancer research." There were no difficult questions asked of any of the three cancer researchers. (Pontification!) T~.~o` f~F ,~ TIMN 0110279