WOMEN AND SMOKE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 242, 12 October 1929, Page 14 (Supplement)

WOMEN AND SMOKE.

IS TOBACCO HARMFUL ? MEDICAL INVESTIGATION. Is smoking harmful to women? Thisi& a question which "The Journal of the American Medical Association" attempts to answer in a recent issue. Quoting a contemporary magazine to the effect that "60 per cent of all babies born of cigarette smoking mothers die before they reach the age of two, due primarily to nicotine poisoning," and that "these conscienceless baby killers (tobacco manufacturers) should be given a lesson now that will last for the next generation," "The Journal" points out that these statements are unsupported by any kind of evidence whatsoever in the context.

In conclusion "The Journal" asks: "Is there, in fact, any evidence that the use of tobacco is any more injurious to woman, pregnant or not pregnant, than it is to man ?" "Two y'oars ago Professor SchrurnpfPierron reviewed the medical literature for the committee to study the tobacco problem," says "The Journal." "The summary of his research is accompanied by seventy pages of bibliography. There is no mention of tobacco heart in newborn children. After a review of the published evidence this conclusion is set forth: Smoking ... by women has no apparent influence over the functions of the genital system. "The morality of smoking by women is not a medical concern any more than the question as to whether or not they should go bareheaded into church. As to the physical harm done to them or to their offspring, if it is any greater than that done by the same habit to their husbands and brothers, it is high time that some scientific evidence be broueht forward to show in what this particular harm consists." ' The Ions; record of "The Journal of the American Medical Association" in fis;htiner'quacks, propagandists and questionable advertising of medical and food products gives this statement unusual authority.