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CIGAitETTE SMOKING : A SERIOUS HEALTH HA7.ARD7
POkITSON5 OF
MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS
Physicians have testified before Committees of the United
States Senate and }louse of Representatives that they are unconvinced that
cigarette smoking is harmful . These physicians have a right to disagrcc
with majority opinion but they represent a very small segment of medical
and scientific opinion and they speak only as individuals, not as representa-
tives of any medical organization . In fact, every medical and health
organizatimn in this country and abroad that has studied this subject has
agreed with the conelusions of the United States Public Health Service that
ci~arette smoking is a serioue health hazard . And no medical or public
health organization has stated that cigarette r.xnoking is not injurious to
health .
The attached statements are evidence that the view expressed by
these "unconvinced physicians" aro in conflict with the positions of major
professional organizations in this country - organizations of which some of
these physicians doubtless are members .
The issue is : Are the health policies of our Nation to be determined
by overwhelming scientific evidence or by the contrary view of a few
individuale 7
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lly24f00/pdf