APPENDIX 1
Landmarks in the development of early
scientific knowledge on smoking and health
1939 Muller finds a statistical link between
smoking and cancer in a small-scale study[44]
1950 Publication of three key large-scale
epidemiological studies linking smoking to lung cancer, by Levin[45],
Wynder and Graham[46],
and Doll and Hill[47]
1952 Doll and Hill publish report concluding
that "the association between smoking and carcinoma of the
lung is real"[48]
1953 Wynder, Graham and Croninger show that
cigarette tar painted on mice causes tumours[49]
1954 Doll and Hill publish preliminary results
of their study of British doctors showing that smoking is associated
with increased lung cancer and contributes to heart disease[50]
1956 Auerbach publishes the first in a series
of reports showing that smoking induces precancerous changes in
the lung, which increase with amount smoked and decline after
smokers quit[51]
Doll and Hill report that death rates from lung
cancer among heavy smokers are 20 times those among nonsmokers,
and that death rates decline in proportion to the length of time
since stopping[52]
1957 The British Medical Research Council
publishes a statement that there is "a direct causal connection"
between smoking and lung cancer[53]
US National Cancer Institute, US National Heart
Institute, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society
ad hoc study group concludes that the "sum total of scientific
evidence establishes beyond reasonable doubt that cigarette smoking
is a causative factor" in lung cancer[54]
US Surgeon-General states that prolonged smoking
is a causative factor in aetiology of lung cancer[55]
1958 Hammond and Horn report that smoking
causes both lung cancer and coronary artery disease[56]
1959 Dorn reports that smokers have a 58
per cent higher death rate than nonsmokers, and that the earlier
one starts to smoke, the poorer one's health[57]
1960 World Health Organization reviews the
available scientific evidence and concludes that smoking causes
lung cancer[58]
1962 Royal College of Physicians reviews
the evidence from some 200 epidemiological and biological studies
and concludes that smoking is a cause of lung cancer and bronchitis,
and probably contributes to coronary heart disease and other less
common diseases[59]
44 Muller FH. Tabakmissbrauch und lungencarcinoma Zeitschrift
fur krebsforschung 1943;54:261-9 Back
45
Levin ML, Goldstein H, Gerhardt PR. Cancer and tobacco smoking:
a preliminary report. JAMA 1950;143:336-38 Back
46
Wynder EL, Graham EA. Tobacco smoking as a possible etiologic
factor in bronchogenic carcinoma JAMA 1950;143:329-36 Back
47
Doll R, Hill AB. Smoking and carcinoma of the lung: preliminary
report. BMJ 1950;143:329-36 Back
48
Doll R, Hill AB. A study of the aetiology of carcinoma of the
lung BMJ 1952;1:1271-86 Back
49
Wynder EL, Graham EA, Croninger AB. Experimental production of
carcinoma with cigarette tar. Part 1. Cancer Res 1953;13:855 Back
50
Doll R, Hill AB. The mortality of doctors in relation to their
smoking habits: a preliminary report. BMJ 1954;1:1451-55 Back
51
Auerbach O et al. Changes in the bronchial epithelium in relation
to smoking and cancer of the lung. New Engl J Med 1957;256:97 Back
52
Doll R, Hill AB. Lung cancer and other causes of death in relation
to smoking. A second report on the mortality of British doctors.
BMJ 1956;ii:1071 Back
53
Medical Research Council. Tobacco smoking and cancer of the lung.
Statement by the Medical Research Council. BMJ 1957;1:1523-4 Back
54
US Study Group on Smoking and Health. Smoking and health. Science
1957; 125:1129 Back
55
Burney LE. Smoking and lung cancer. A statement of the Public
Health Service. JAMA;1959:71,1829 Back
56
Hammond EC, Horn D. Smoking and death rates-report on 44 months
of follow-up of 187,783 men. Part II Death rates by cause. JAMA
1958; 166:1294. Back
57
Dorn H. Tobacco consumption and mortality from cancer and other
diseases. US Publ Hlth Rep 1959;74 (7):581 Back
58
World Health Organization. Epidemiology of cancer of the lung.
Report of a study group. WHO Tech Rep 192. Back
59
Royal College of Physicians of London. Smoking and Health. London:
Pitman Medical, 1962. Back
| 
