Question

Which Texas scientific leader wrote a report connecting smoking to lung cancer

Answer 1

Answer: Luther Leonidas Terry wrote a report connecting smoking to lung cancer. Terry was an American physician and public health official. He was appointed the ninth Surgeon General of the United States from 1961 to 1965, and is best known for his warnings against the dangers and the impact of tobacco use on health.

Explanation: Although there had always been an awareness of the negative health effects of smoking, it was not until the 1950s that evidence started to be published suggesting that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer and other diseases. At the end of the decade, the Royal College of Physicians in the United Kingdom appointed a committee to investigate the relationship between smoking and health. The committee's report, issued on March 7, 1962, clearly indicated cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer and bronchitis and argued that it probably contributed to cardiovascular disease as well.

Shortly after the release of this report, Terry established the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, which he was the leader, to produce a similar report for the United States. Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States, released on January 11, 1964, concluded that lung cancer and chronic bronchitis are causally related to cigarette smoking. The report also remarked there was suggestive evidence, if not definite proof, for a causative role of smoking in other diseases such as emphysema, cardiovascular disease, and various types of cancer. The committee concluded that cigarette smoking was a health hazard of sufficient importance to take appropriate remedial action.