Chapter 6: The Filter Tip and Other Placebos Summary

In 1952, a data gathering study began, conducted by the American Cancer Society, with approximately 22,000 volunteers in eleven states. ACS interviewers would each find ten men in their vicinity between the ages of fifty and sixty-nine (prime years to contract cancer). Enlistees could be smokers; they just had to be healthy at the start of the study. This would create a potential database of 222,000 people. At the end of the first year, over 99 percent of respondents were located for the follow up. A similar study was undertaken in Britain, with 40,000 doctors taking part.

While health concerns rose, some smaller cigarette companies starting devising ways to use the public apprehension to their advantage. Lorillard started experimenting with filters in 1951. Some engineering was required to find a medium to stand up to the heat...