Word: tobacco
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...fact that puffing on a cigarette is an unhealthy activity is no longer seriously disputed, even by the tobacco industry. Much of the current medical debate has shifted to two related questions: Is nicotine addictive? And how dangerous is environmental tobacco smoke...
...Tobacco companies insist that nicotine, which is contained in varying amounts in all cigarettes, does not create a habit so powerful that it impairs a person's ability to quit. But the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community is that nicotine is an addictive substance. A Surgeon General's report has concluded it is as addictive as heroin or cocaine...
...Tobacco companies have heavier artillery when it comes to challenging the EPA's 1993 report that labeled environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS, a carcinogen. They charge that the report -- a review of 30 epidemiological, animal and laboratory studies conducted during the past two decades -- is fundamentally flawed. The Congressional Research Service and some independent scientists have also criticized the report...
Critics note, however, that the EPA didn't consider a threshold level for smoking damage. Scientists know cells have the ability to repair damage to their DNA. Can cells fix tobacco-induced changes, and at what level of pollution does the repair mechanism become overwhelmed? The agency regarded all smoke exposure as dangerous and the effects as cumulative. EPA scientists admit that the danger of getting a whiff of tobacco at the baseball stadium is generally not the same as driving in an enclosed car with a chain smoker. "I'd expect the ballpark risk to be minimal," concedes...
...days ago, my life became pure once again. Young, strapping men are back at Fenway chewing tobacco, scratching themselves and attempting to smash little white balls with 35-inch pieces of wood. The circus that has become professional baseball is back in Boston for six months. I was there and I could not have been happier...