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54
CONCLUSIONS OF AN ANTI-SMOKINO CAMl'AIf.N
(by Or. G. B. Taylor)
The previous surveys carried out among the population of
Ilford suggested that smoking was a true addiction. In the
report of lf'63 I felt that there was little purpose in spending
any more lime on the smoking population because, although
they accepted the medical facts that smoking was associated
with bronchitis and lung cancer, they were unable to stop the
habit. It followed from this, that smoking should be treated as
a true addiction and the addicts treated at special Smoking
Clinics supervised by Doctors trained in the treatment of drug
addiction. The only other approach was to prevent the addiction
by health education, and this seemed the more feasible
project.
Two Secondary Boys' Schools, Mayfield and Fairlop were
chosen for the Survey. Approximately 100 boys at each of the
two schools were divided into a Test Group and a Control
Group. The Control Group were given no health education at all,
whilst the Test Group were given health education lectures
every term. It was felt that, by dividing the boys into two such
Groups, a valid comparison could be drawn on the effects of
health education.
The lectures began when the boys were aged 11 and continued
for four years.
The plan of the campaign was not to concentrate on smoking
directly, but to bring this in, merely as a subject of health.
The initial health education lectures were on general topics
such as clothing, good housing, exercise, etc. Then the necessity
for clean food was discussed; children were told that, if
they ate infected food, then they would suffer from gastroenteritis
and, likewise, if they drank infected water, they were
liable to suffer from certain serious illnesses. When they had
realised the need for pure food and pure water, their attention
was drawn to the fact that it was just as necessary, for the
maintenance of health, that they should breath pure air.
In order to demonstrate this, they were shown the actual
X-Rays of different dust diseases; silicosis, a dust disease
common among coal miners and stannosis, a disease common
among tin miners, were shown. The boys were told that these
dust diseases, although they incapacitate the patient by
making breathing difficult, never turned to cancer and, therefore,
not all dust diseases produce cancer. They were then shown
X-Rays which were known to be pre-cancerous, although not