Document dY04ympeJ0jGjx2aORrjy27vQ

FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1954 June 10 DOC NMA102 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION NYT - Tobacco Industry Acts to Determine Whether Cigarettes and Lung Cancer Are Related SCIENCE IN By ROBERT K. New York Times Pg E9 REVIEW PLUMB Current file Jan 10 1954 ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times 1851 - 200 SCIENCE IN REVIEW z Tobacco Industry Acts to Determine Whethe Cigarettes and Lung Cancer Are Related By ROBERT K. PLUMB | Leaders of the tobacco industry this week announced | cigarette companies a Tobacco Industry that the major established had Research Com- | mittee to study all phases of tobacco use and health The formation of ; the committee was prompted by new medical evidence that there may be a connection over a long between heavy period and the smoking develop- | ment of lung cancer | Two sets of statistics puzzle public health men One set shows that the consumption of cigarettes increased fourfold in the twenty years between 1933 and 1953. The other shows that the annual number of deaths from lung cancer has likewise increased- from 3,400 in 1933 to 22,000 in 1953 Is there any connection The parallel between lung cancer and increased cigarette smoking proves nothing in itself Tuberculosis deaths for instance have dropped just as fast as cigarette smoking has risen So one could argue that smok- ing prevents tuberculosis Other parallels could be drawn in a simi- larly rough fashion and they would prove nothing The accumulated evi- dence now available is not so crude however Smokers Classified First consider smoking Exact figures on who smokes what and how often are lacking Studies have been made but most are marketing studies made for advertising an elaborate analysis purposes For of the problem the American Cancer Society has set up four arbitrary definitions of ciga- rette smoking Light smokers rate These are smoke less than 1 half pack day 2 Moderate smokers smoke Heavy a pack smokers or less between a day one and 3 two packs a day 4 Very heavy smokers consume more It should be than two packs a day pointed out that these classifications are not rigorous That is a light smoker who used less than half a pack a day for many years might for statistical become a heavier smoker purposes A two- pack man who has just started smoking smoker is still classed as a light How do these figures compare with actual cigarette consumption No one knows exactly how many smokers there are and how often they smoke But the cancer society has found that fourths of all contemporary males between 50 and 69 are or have been regular smokers light to very heavy 18 per classification and that only cent have never smoked cept for a few behind the barn experimental puffs In 1953 the population of the na- tion was about 160,000,000 men wo- men and children That year about 420,000,000,000 cigarettes were sold Estimates of the number of smokers range upward from 50,000,000 If it is assumed that half the total popu- lation smokes then about three- fourths of a pack a day were used by each smokers of in the the 80,000,000 presumed nation The estimate of 80,000,000 smokers seems high however it appears more likely that the average consumption is more than fourths of one pack a day For comparison 100,000,000,000 cigarettes were smoked in 1933. Then the population was If half these men about 125,000,000 women and chil- dren were smokers the average con- Isumption was only about fourth a pack a day Certainly the number of smokers has increased in twenty years Probably the average daily consumption per smoker has risen also An American Study The traces American Cancer Society back into the scientific litera- ture to 1923 for the first studies link- ing tobacco and cancer Early studies were by German Japanese Scandi- navian and French investigators All sought for a possible inhalant factor in lung cancer atmospheric gases dust metallic powders other factors were considered The carbon monox- ide nicotine and tars of tobacco smoke were separated out and tested for their causing abilities In 1928 an American study was published in the Journal of the Amer- ican Medical Association 91 150-151 July 21 1928 Tars from pipe to- bacco failed to produce cancer in mice this report said Meanwhile German experimenters reported they had eliminated nicotine and carbon monoxide as cancer causes The German possible research- ers added that tobacco tars had a mild causing ability and that it could be effective only in an in- dividual with a special disposition to- ward cancer the Germans Shortly before the believed they had lated the cancer cause among war iso- the combustion products of tobacco The substance they named benzpyrene has not subsequently been tobacco smoke by American found in research- ers Many Causes After World War death rate from lung to alert public health II when the cancer began authorities to a new health hazard studies the world over established that many sub- stances can cause cancer in humans Among them are emanations from violet radioactive light mate rials compounds of arsenic chro- mium nickel and beryllium also asbestos tar pitch crude oils and greases from petroleum and benzol derivitives In some instances other factors are important Among these are diet medicinal materials cos- metics habits customs climate and various contaminants of air water soil and foodstuffs So far studies on lung cancer and cigarettes have linked the two by a means not approved by most statisti- cians It was however the only method available That is cases of lung cancer have been reviewed The smoking habits of these victims have been compared with the smoking habits of healthy individuals These studies do suggest that smoking ciga rettes and lung cancer are related Further other tests establish that a material unknown from cigarette smoke will cause cancer in animals used in experiments For alone rettes some researchers this evidence is enough to condemn ciga- For others the present evi- dence is not enough There seems to be a division among entists Some hold independent sci- that it is essen- tial to alert the public to the dangers even though they are not proved others believe their duty is to answer yes or no to the big question be- fore they frighten smokers by warn- ing of possibilities The American Cancer Society may be able to provide a conclusive yes or no answer in about eighteen months Two years ago this spring the society used 22,000 of its volun- teer workers to get the health records of 204,000 white males between the ages jects of 50 and 69. This group of sub- will die at the rate of thirteen each day according to the actuarial tables At certificate the time of death a death is obtained to reveal the cause in each instance Some of the men will die of lung cancer most will not From the study the society ex- pects to find out whether cigarette smoking causes lung cancer If it does the amount of smoking light to very heavy and the length of time which this rate of will also be known smoking involved " Lengthy Study Other industries have been study- ing for many years the possibility that cancer may sometimes be caused by common industrial products or processes The petroleum industry the chemical industry and some of the metals industries are examples It is fair to ask why it has taken the cigarette industry so long to initiate its own research Scientific reports linking lung cancer and smoking par- ticularly cigarette smoking have ap- peared in the journals for thirty years and ' years in the public press for ten The evidence linking smoking and cancer is not conclusive Many scien- tists hold on the contrary that there is no connection between the two In public health however it is com- mon sense to assume that a suspected health menace is guilty until it is proved innocent whatever may be the practice in other fields It is unfortunate that the establish- ment of the industry committes has called attention of those who smoke to the scientific discussion now when no conclusive information can be given Research on human subjects takes a long time cancer may de- velop slowly Smokers want to know the hazards if any in their habit and no one can give a decision now Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission