Chapter 8: Grand Inquisitors Summary

The American Cancer Society, along with the American Heart Association and two other medical organizations, lobbied President Kennedy to open a national commission on smoking in 1961. The Surgeon General promised to handle it, but the FTC said it wanted backing from the Surgeon General before proceeding. In Britain, the Royal College of Physicians stated that smoking was a major factor in causing lung cancer. In 1962, the "New England Journal of Medicine" published a report showing that smokers had heart disease five times that of non-smokers. The theory of how smoking overworked the heart was published in "Scientific American." Major evidence also showed how quitting would greatly reduce the subject's chance of getting cancer or heart disease in the future.

The TIRC responded with heightened attacks. Their own sponsored results, if negative to the tobacco industry, were still being stifled...