Jump to full article: The Mail (uk), 2008-07-05
Author: Tom Kelly
Intro: Harold Macmillan claimed smoking was no more dangerous than 'crossing a street' and argued against issuing a Government health warning, Cabinet papers released yesterday reveal.
The then Chancellor, a keen pipe and cigar smoker, had another reason for ignoring evidence of a link between cigarettes and lung cancer - he was afraid of losing tax revenue.
There was already growing concern that smoking caused the disease when in 1956 the Cabinet was given a scientific report showing clear statistical evidence of a connection.
It prompted panic among ministers over whether they should 'expose' the facts and condemn smoking as a health risk. . . .
He added: 'The Treasury think revenue interest outweighs this. (It is) negligible compared with risk of crossing a street.' Notes from the meeting on April 17, 1956, were released at the National Archives in Kew, South West London. . . .
Despite repeated warnings from medical experts about the link between smoking and cancer, ministers took no action until 1965 when they banned cigarette advertising on television.
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