Smoking And Death
By Paul B. Smith

The Christian Church has always .attached a moral stigma to smoking, but now it has been joined by every major medical association and health organization in the world. On a purely medical basis, leaving moral implications out of it, smoking doesn't have a leg to stand on.

There is now a bibliography on the subject as long as a man's arm, and no responsible research team can dare to give smoking the green light. The only' exception to this might be a group of scientists employed by. the tobacco companies of the world, whose business it is to discredit the findings of all the major medical associations and to try to convince the smoking public that it should continue playing Russian Roulette with cigarettes.

The more research that is done, the longer and more terrifying becomes the list of diseases with which smoking is associated. It starts with cancer ,of the lungs, but it doesn't stop there. It includes diseases of the heart and arteries, ulcers, cancers of the mouth, tongue. and gullet, acute bronchitis, emphysema, and allergies. Dr. Alton Ochsner, the renowned American surgeon who was summoned to England to operate on the late King George VI, says, "There "is scarcely a biological process that is not harmed in some way by tobacco." (7)

The Royal College of Physicians of London issued a report in 1962 that states, "Diseases associated with smoking now cause so many deaths that they present one of the most challenging opportunities for preventive medicine today." (9)

The gruesome statistics of. the world's authorities now indicate that from the age of twenty onward, if you smoke a pack a day, you may burn off about eight years of your life. (3)  The death rate for all smokers is about fifty-eight percent higher than for nonsmokers, and the death rate for heavy smokers is about twice that of nonsmokers. "Among men of the same age and 'suffering the same diseases, the chances are fifty-eight . percent greater that the moderate smoker will die; the chances are two to one that the heavy smoker will die." (7)  The Canadian Medical Association Journal says the same thing in more grisly terms: 'One of every twenty-three heavy smokers at the age of thirty-five will be dead within ten years if he continues smoking, one in ninety for nonsmokers." (3)

CANCER OF THE LUNGS

Some people will smoke throughout a lifetime and never develop lung cancer. Some who have never smoked in their lives will die of lung cancer; but re- searchers now agree that the person who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day has sixteen times the chance of developing lung cancer that a nonsmoker has, and an extremely heavy smoker may have thirty times the chance.

Look at the opinions of authorities:
In 1957 a joint committee of the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Society, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Heart Institute said, "The sum total of scientific evidence establishes beyond reasonable doubt that cigarette smoking is a causative factor in the rapidly increasing incidence of human epidermoid carcinoma of the lung." (7)

The Medical Research Council of Great Britain in 1955 declared; "Evidence from many investigations in different countries indicates that a major part of the increase of lung cancer is associated with tobacco smoking, particularly in the form of cigarettes. In the opinion of the Council, the most reasonable interpretation of this evidence is that the relationship is one of direct cause and effect," (7)

In 1961 the Canadian Medical Association went on record as follows: "The weight of evidence at present implicates cigarette smoking as the principal causative factor in the increased incidence of lung cancer." (5)

An editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 1963 states, "Since 1957, major scientific bodies throughout the world have joined in indicting cigarette smoking as the most important etiological factor in the causation of lung cancer." (6)

The morbid conclusions of the world's greatest medical scientists confront the smoker with this sobering fact: Smoking causes cancer of the lungs. This becomes even more solemn when we remember that in ninety-five cases out of a hundred, lung cancer is fatal. 

HEART AND ARTERIES

The nicotine that smoking introduces into your system increases your pulse, raises your blood pressure, and decreases your skin temperature. If you become a regular smoker your chances of dying from heart disease may be eighty-two percent greater than a nonsmoker's, and should you smoke a pack or more a day, you raise this to ninety-five percent. (7)

The summary of the report of the Royal College of Physicians of London on smoking states, "Coronary heart disease is a more frequent cause of death in smokers, particularly cigarette smokers, than in nonsmokers." (9)

Because of the devastating effects of nicotine on the heart and arteries, smoking can be deadly to some- one who is already suffering from angina. It simply creates more problems for a heart that is already fighting for life. A survey that was reported in 1961 to the American Heart Association showed that heavy smokers had three times as many heart attacks as nonsmokers. (3)

GASTRIC ULCERS

Smoking may not cause ulcers, but any mode of smoking makes it extremely difficult to get rid of ulcers once they develop, and many doctors positively refuse to treat a patient for ulcers unless he agrees to stop smoking. Dr. Alton Ochsner of New Orleans is adamant on this point: "Regardless of whether the ulcer is in the stomach or in the duodenum, I have yet to see a patient get well if he continues to smoke. I flatly refuse to treat ulcer patients who do not agree to discontinue smoking." (7)

The report of the Royal College of Physicians of London notes a famous American survey: "An increased mortality from peptic ulcer was found in smokers of all kinds (cigarettes, pipe, and cigars), the smokers having nearly three times the mortality rate of nonsmokers." (9) "A package a day keeps your ulcer."

OTHER DISEASES

Acute bronchitis, influenza, pneumonia, and emphysema have all been included by the experts in the tragic story of smoking. "Pathological evidence of chronic bronchitis is found more frequently in smokers than in nonsmokers at autopsy, and more frequently in heavier than in lighter smokers." (9)

The American Cancer Society claims that three times as many smokers die from lung diseases other than cancer as nonsmokers, and four times as many smokers die from pneumonia and influenza as nonsmokers. (7)

Any sort of smoking may cause cancer of the lung, but pipes may produce cancer of the lip, and cigars may encourage cancer of the tongue. Cancers of the throat and gullet also occur more frequently in smokers than in nonsmokers. (9)

SMOKING AND YOUTH

Large-scale surveys in Canada, Great Britain, the United States, and other countries have produced these conclusions:

1. Many children start smoking at the age of six, but the danger years are age eleven to age sixteen. (6)
2. Parents who smoke usually produce children who smoke. (9)
3. Intelligent students smoke less than their duller classmates. (9)
4. Students who smoke have less interest in going to college. (7)
5. Industrious students who are active in sports usually smoke less. (6)
6. Among high school seniors, 46.4 percent of the boys and 33.1 percent of the girls are regular smokers. (6)

A survey of 7,682 high school students in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, showed that "those who used cigarettes rated badly in organized sport and very badly in academic achievement, and had followed parental example in adopting the smoking habit.".

Some parents might take a chance on their own health, but no sincere father or mother would knowing- ly set an example that could result in the untimely death of a son or daughter; but this is precisely what a smoking parent does. Three packs a day might never kill me, but half a pack a day might kill my son.
The Canadian Medical Journal preaches this elo- quent sermon: "Leaders in education can take heart from the realization that in acting to prevent the recruitment of children and juveniles to the cigarette habit, they are striking at the roots of a vast public health problem.".

THE SAFEGUARDS?

Pipes, cigars, filters, king-sized cigarettes, and non-inhaling have all been suggested by the addicted smoker as methods that will make it safe for him to continue smoking. How safe are these?

Pipes and Cigars. The most dangerous type of smoking is cigarette smoking. However, it should be remembered that pipes and cigars are by no means safe. Cancer of the lungs is more common among cigarette smokers, but mouth cancers are more common among pipe and cigar smokers. The heavy pipe smoker is in as much danger from lung cancer as the heavy cigarette smoker.

"The American Cancer Society has ascertained that among smokers of pipes or cigars or both, the death rate from all forms of cancer is thirty-two per- cent above that of nonsmokers." (7)

Filters. Before the cancer scare, only a negligible number of filter-tipped cigarettes were used. Today, filters account for more than fifty percent of the market. There has been a fierce fight on .the part of the tobacco companies to. produce a safe filter, and there has been a mad rush on the part of the public toward the "safety" of filters.

The object of a filter is to strain the tar and nicotine out of the smoke and thus prevent it from entering the system. The tar is the irritant that produces cancer, and the nicotine affects the heart. A filter that would successfully accomplish its purpose would also strain the flavor from the smoke and rob the cigarette smoker of the stimulation of the nicotine. Of course, this would kill the sales. The result is that today's filters are really no safeguard at all. (3)

"Laboratory experiments have shown that even the best filter and denicotinized cigarettes contain enough nicotine to seriously affect an impaired heart or circulatory system. " (7)

"The 1961 figures concerning Canadian cigarettes show no appreciable reduction of nicotine content in filter-tip cigarettes." (3)

One company advertises with the slogan, "It's what's up front that counts." And it is. The filter really makes little, if any, difference.

King-size. A longer cigarette might prove helpful, but only if it were less than half smoked, and then discarded. Cigarettes. that are completely smoked build up a much greater concentration of troubles as they become shorter. The longer the cigarette, the greater this buildup. Any cigarette that is smoked to a short butt is extremely dangerous, and this is multiplied in a long cigarette.

Non-Inhaling. All smoking carries some poison to the lungs. If you inhale deeply, you increase the amount. If you do not inhale, you decrease it; but nobody knows how much tobacco tar it takes to aggravate a cancer condition in any given person. Some people can take a great deal with no apparent harm. Others require very little. You cannot be sure which group you are in until it is too late.
Don't inhale is a good rule. Don't smoke is the only safe rule.

DOCTORS AND SMOKING

Among doctors throughout the world there has been a marked decrease in smoking' since 1951. Some have given it up, and others have modified their methods. The summary of the report of the Royal College of Physicians in London states, "Many doctors have given up smoking since the dangers of the habit have become apparent - only half of them now smoke." (9)

"Twice as many doctors are nonsmokers as other men. Between the years of 1951 and 1961, one of every three cigarette-smoking doctors gave up smoking." (4)

CONCLUSION

In the face of these facts, it is still true that seventy-five percent of the men and fifty percent of the women are regular smokers. Men smoke an average of nineteen cigarettes per day, and women an average of eleven. In the United States, fifty different brands will cost the public about six billion dollars next year. Out of this the government will reap about two and a half billion dollars in taxes. Canadians smoked more than three billion cigarettes in 1963. For the average man there is a choice-to smoke or not to smoke. In the light of today's evidence, for the Christian who wants the will of God, there is no longer any choice;

Here are four simple statements. If you are a Christian you must cross out one of them.
1. I am living in the center of God's will.
2. I know that my body is God's temple.
3. I know the facts about smoking.
4. I will continue to smoke.
Which one will it be for you?

References and Bibliography

1. Canadian Cancer Society, "A Clear Look at Cancer" (December, 1960).
2. Canadian Tuberculosis Association Bulletin, "Cancer and Heavy Cigarette Smoking" (June, 1962).
3. Delarue, Norman C., "Cigarette Smoking: A Clinical and Public Health Challenge, Part I," Canadian Medical Association Journal (November 3, 1962). 
4. Delarue, Norman C., "Cigarette Smoking: A Clinical and Public Health Challenge, Part II." Canadian Medical Association Journal (November 10, 1962). 
5. Editorial: "The Cigarette: A Dilemma for Society," - Canadian Medical Association Journal (October 20, 1962).
6. Editorial: "Aspects of the Cigarette Problem," Canadian Medical Association Journal (February 9, 1963).
7. Ochsner, Alton, Smoking and Health (New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1959).
8. National Cancer Institute or Canada, "Lung Cancer and Smoking," Canadian Medical Association Journal (October 20, 1962).
9. Royal College of Physicians of London, Smoking and Health (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd. 1962).
10. Westchester Cancer Committee, Youth Looks at Cancer (U.S.A., 1960).

This tract is available in print from:
Osterhus Publishing House, 4500W. Broadway, Minneapolis, MN 55422