Word: lungfuls
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...clearly unwilling to accept the notion that where there is smoke there is cancer. Although scientists keep on diligently assembling statistical data on the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, the American tobacco industry has bounced back from its 1953-54 slump, is puffing contentedly over big sales and expansion plans. See BUSINESS, Complete Recovery. One reason why Americans are smoking again more or less fearlessly is that they see safety in filters. Starting from practically nowhere, filter cigarettes have now taken over nearly a third of the U.S. cigarette output. Are the filters really any good? Scientists insist...
...that smoking could be rendered relatively harmless-without waiting for the substance to be isolated. This reassurance came last week from the man who, since his student days, has been busy amassing proof that heavy, long-continued cigarette smoking is the main cause of the recent dramatic increase in lung cancer: Dr. Ernest L. Wynder, 34, of Manhattan's Sloan-Kettering Institute...
...from tests at 880° had papillomas (precursors of cancer), and 27% had full-blown cancer. The tar from the wax contained all the cancer agents now known to exist in small amounts in cigarette tar, but Dr. Wynder doubts that these substances are the only cause of the lung-cancer increase, suspects there are others in the tar. One tentative conclusion: dewax the tobacco to make it less harmful. Dr. Wynder did not say what cigarettes would taste like if made from dewaxed tobacco. (He has tried them, but being a nonsmoker, he is a poor judge...
While cancer of the lung has become much more prevalent in recent years, cancer of the mouth has not. Medical researchers have been puzzled by this, since cancer-causing agents, e.g., tobacco tar, reach the lungs through the mouth. In the Journal of the American Dental Association, investigators offer two tentative explanations: saliva has a protective effect, though whether this is brought about simply by washing away the cancer agent or by combating it chemically is not known; the tissues of the mouth are so constructed as to constitute a kind of "physiological barrier" against the entry of cancer agents...
Animal tests support both explanations. Mice develop skin cancer (which resembles lung cancer because of the similarity of the tissues) after a single painting of methylcholanthrene outside the mouth, but they resist repeated paintings inside. However, if their saliva glands are removed and the mouth becomes ulcerated, they become susceptible to cancer. These results are consistent with observed cases of human mouth cancer. Such cases are rare among both smokers and betel-nut chewers with good teeth. But they are relatively common in individuals with jagged teeth or ill-fitting dentures that may have worn through the "physiological barrier...