Daily Doc: PM, May 29, 1974: PM: Lung Disease Causes Smoking
Daily Doc: PM: Lung Disease Causes Smoking
Title: Reverse Hypothesis
PM, May 29, 1974
Bates #: 1005081339
January 25, 2001
In casting about for something else they could point to as the culprit that was causing lung disease in smokers, the tobacco industry came up with some interesting hypotheses. Their "carotene hypothesis" attempted to blame lung cancer on a high intake of dietary carotene: (http://www.tobaccodocuments.org/view.cfm?CitID=1572885&GetListArrayIdx=1&ShowImages=yes).
Another view, promoted for some time, was the "Constitutional Hypothesis" which claimed that a genetic defect caused some human beings to "have difficulty adapting to the problems of existence." Thus they claimed that smoking was a substitute for people's normal coping mechanisms (that is, in some lesser strain of people who suffered from being particularly inadaptable):
"Smoking, then, would result not directly from a genetic predisposition, but as a response to the frustrations (flunking tests in school, etc.) which these relatively unadaptable people experience."But one of the most bizarre was the "Reverse Hypothesis," in which Philip Morris scientists tried to substantiate the claim that lung disease was a cause of smoking.
(http://www.tobaccodocuments.org/view.cfm?CitID=2202531&GetListArrayIdx=1&ShowImages=yes) (PM Memo, "Description of the Constitutional Hypothesis", 1972)
CITATION
Title: Reverse Hypothesis
Type of Document: Internal Memorandum
From: J. Lincoln (Philip Morris)
To: R. Fagan (Philip Morris)
Date: 19740529
Page Count: 1
Site: Tobacco Documents Online http://www.tobaccodocuments.org
Bates No. 1005081339
URL: http://www.tobaccodocuments.org/view.cfm?CitID=1686577&GetListArrayIdx=1&ShowImages=yes
QUOTES
No doubt you have seen the recent reference to the study in England in which it was reported that children in smoking families were more inclined to have lung problems than children in non-smoking families.
Those whose minds are already made up will, of course, assume that is another basis for indicting cigarette smoking. However, it seems to me that it could just as easily support the "constitutional theory." As a matter of fact, it reminded me of the idea that I rejected for so many years because it seemed so self-serving, namely, the idea that lung problems cause smoking. As you will recall, the main reason I have recently dared to think about this reverse hypothesis a little bit is the inexplicably high incidence of cigarette smoking among workers who are occupationally exposed to lung irritants.
I am writing you partly to ask if you can think of any way of testing the "reverse hypothesis."
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Anne Landman, Regional Program Coordinator
American Lung Association of Colorado, West Region Office
Grand Junction, CO
(970) 245-2120
afoxland@gj.net
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