Tobacco and Health

Abstract

FOR more than a quarter of a century, a wealth of epidemiologic evidence has causatively linked tobacco smoking with lung cancer.^{1 2 3 4 5} Decades ago, smoking was shown to increase the risk of premature heart attack and was recognized as a major factor in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.^{6 7 8 9 10} Cancers of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, kidney and bladder have also been linked with excessive use of tobacco.^{11 12 13 14 15 16} Furthermore, the incidence of lung cancer is rising among women¹⁷ — a development that we predicted on the basis of data published in the Journal in 1956.¹⁸ In view of the epidemiologic, biochemical and purely . . .