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In Bermondsey, cancer accounts for no less than 21% of all
the deaths. During the last ten years, the number of people who
died from the complaint was equivalent to one quarter of the whole
of the present population.
In recent years, research has begun to implicate smoking as
one of the contributory factors in the causation of cancer. Despite
this, however, many people are still unconvinced or, perhaps, are
unwilling to be convinced. The Treasury alone would be embarrassed
to the extent of some £700,000,000 per annum if they lost
the income derived from tobacco taxation. Unfortunately, in this
materialistic world it is too easy for the producer to turn a blind
eye to the dangers run by the consumer, especially if old traditions
are more lucrative.
In Britain, 20,000,000 people smoke cigarettes, and 20,000 die
of cancer of the lung each year. If you are a non-smoker, the
chances of dying of cancer of the lung are about lin 300. It you
are a smoker, the odds are reduced to 1 in 17 and if you are a heavy
smoker they may fall as low as 1 in 7. Not five patients in each
hundred diagnosed this year will be alive in five years. Is worship
of the god of smoking really worth all this ?