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death rate is not very far behind that for England and Wales. The crude death rate for
Bronchitis for England and Wales is about 59 per 100,000 and Table IV shows that 51 of
Edmonton's population of 96,530 died from Bronchitis. The death rate from Bronchitis in Denmark
is about one seventh of the Anglo-Welsh rate The two populations are similar in age distribution
and in the distribution of income. The two main differences between the two countries are
that twice as many cigarettes are smoked per head in England and Wales as in Denmark and that
the amount of smoke in Danish air is on average about one-third of that in English air, Smoke
and Bronchitis are, therefore, probably closely associated.
There is a similar death gradient between the smokier and cleaner towns in England and
Wales and even in some areas between the different parts of the same town. The death rate from
Bronchitis in the industrial West Midlands, for instance, is considerably higher than in
Edmonton, and in Tyneside, where air pollution is very high, the Bronchitis death rate is
higher still, I confidently expect that as Edmonton s air becomes cleaner, the death rate from
Bronchitis and other diseases of the Lungs will gradually fall.
CANCER OP HIE LUNG
This dread disease becomes ever more common Table IV shows that it carried off 57 people
in 1957 and that 25 of these were under the age of 65 Most were men. Only 3 women, in fact,
died from Lung Cancer in 1957. Four men died before they were 55, 21 more before they were 65
It is impossible to say dogmatically, which particular factors precipitated Cancer in these
unfortunate men and women Cancer of the Lung, however, is rare in the non-smoker and it is
reasonable to guess that cigarette smoke in association with dirty air was responsible for most
of the deaths.
It is difficult to say how we can best reduce the use of the Tobacco drug. In parts of
India, I understand, one can only obtain Alcohol if one agrees to wear a placard which states:
“I am an Alcohol addict". That is one possible course. Another is to treat tobacco as a
dangerous drug and only allow its use on a doctor s prescription. I suspect that this might
lead to many family doctors developing writer s cramp Amore useful method might be to increase
the tobacco tax considerably. If a packet of cigarettes cost 10/-, deaths from Bronchitis would
fall in a few years and deaths from Lung Cancer would probably show a drop in ten years or so
after the tax.
It is well -known that in my own profession the Lung Cancer death rate in the heavy smokers
(25 or more a day) is more than twenty times that in the non-smokers. In the population as a
whole, the gap in the death rates is probably wider.
One of the constituents of cigarette smoke, however, which is known to produce Cancer in
experimental animals (Benz Pyrene) is also present in chimney smoke and comparative studies in
North Wales and Liverpool suggest that it is as dangerous to be a non smoker in a heavily
polluted area as to be a light smoker living in the country. The Clean Air Act can play its
part here too, but the abolition of the cigarette would be the most effective means of reducing
Lung Cancer deaths.
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