I had been staying clear of the tobacco & cancer discussion, because I
thought it might be deviating from archaeology, but now that I have been
invited, I will add a few comments.  The truth of the matter is that a link
between smoking and cancer had been suspected for many, many years before
the Surgeon General spoke up and before cigarette warnings were required.
It has been very difficult to prove a causal relation between smoking (or
any carcinogen) and a specific kind of cancer.  Part of the reason for this
difficulty is that there may be several decades separating a carcinogenic
cause and a detectable cancer during which the lungs or any organ is
subjected to tens of thousands of potential carcinogens.  The scientific
links of smoking to cancer date back at least to 1859 when a French doctor,
Bouisson, reported on his interviews of 68 patients with cancer of the oral
cavity; he found that 66 were smokers and the other two chewed tobacco.  In
1927, an English physician, F. E. Tylecote reported that almost every
patient he had or knew about with lung cancer had been heavy smokers.
Carefully controlled epidemiologic studies, one after another, as well as
animal studies eventually convinced just about everyone that smoking was the
main cause of lung and several other cancers.  Readers interested in this
history might want to look at Walter Ross' "Crusade: The Official History of
the American Cancer Society," Arbor House, New York, 1987 and Michael
Shimkin's "Some Classics of Experimental Oncology," NIH Publication Number
80-2150, Washington, D.C., 1980.
    Regarding the comment on HISTARCH regarding the origin of the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (1906), it should be kept in mind that the impetus
for its formation was not only the concern with fraudulent patent medicines,
but also concern with the food industry.  Upton Sinclair's novel, "The
Jungle," about the meat processing industry had a major impact on the public
demand that led to the Pure Food and Drug Law of 1906.  In the early years
of the FDA, the great majority of legal actions were directed against the
food industry.  A nice treatment of this history can be found in James
Harvey Young's "The Medical Messiahs," Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey, 1967.

Allen Vegotsky



----- Original Message -----
From: "John Dendy" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: Quality whiskey and cigars


> While we're still on the subject, I have a Saturday Evening Post from 1949
> that has the add "9 out of 10 doctors prefer Camels" which begs the old
> joke --- the rest prefer women. It also has a full size yellow page
reading
> "fight for the right to yellow margarine." Actually, this subject begs a
> reply from Allen Vegotsky, who as many may know, worked for the American
> Cancer Society for many years.