Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990 TAG: 9005060058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Philip Morris USA, which makes 1 billion cigarettes a day at its plant in Richmond, mailed the 176-page study to 400 scientists last week.
"Scientists are not like politicians - they can change their minds when the data changes," said Thomas J. Borelli, Philip Morris' manager of scientific issues.
Larry Garfinkel, the American Cancer Society's vice president for epidemiology, is not convinced. He said the danger of second-hand smoke is "pretty well accepted by the majority of people in the field."
"I've almost stopped listening to what the tobacco companies say," Garfinkel said. "Their business isn't truth and science."
Anne Morrow Donley, founder of the Virginia Group to Alleviate Smoking in Public, or GASP, said anyone can sniff out the dangers of second-hand smoke. "When your eyes start watering and you start coughing, it's obvious that something's not right," she said.
The study, included in an unpublished 1987 paper by a Yale University doctoral candidate, says a person can be exposed to smoke from 400,000 cigarettes in a lifetime without any increased cancer risk. In fact, the study suggests exposure to tobacco smoke can build immunity.
"The more nonsmokers were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in social situations, the lower was their risk of developing lung cancer," a Philip Morris summary of the study says.
The paper was based on a study of 439 lung cancer cases in nonsmokers. Borelli said the report was sent to scholars in hope that doubts will filter to policymakers.
by CNB