ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22107, 1 June 1937, Page 13

ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO

TO THE EDITOB OF THB FEES*. Sir,— "Efficiency" draws attention to the evil of the alcohol and nicotine habit in relation to racial degeneration. These, as well as the wrong food habits, should receive the attention of our Government as well as of every thinking man and woman What is the use of health camps for children? The horse is out of the stable by the time the children get into the camps. The mere fact that they are sickly weaklings and need to go into camp proves this. The foundation for many of their bodilv weaknesses was laid in ante-natal life, 'by their drug-taking parents, for nicotine and alcohol are both drugs. Two drops of nicotine placed on a dog s tongue kill it immediately. . Nicotine is a poisonous alkaloid, dilictlng from the vast majority by be ng volatile and containing no oxygen. Its devastating effect in smoking is due to the fact that It paralyses certain nerves—those of the stomach particularly. Recent experiments conducted in Washington show that 60 per cent, of the offspring of smoking and drinking parents die before the age of two; and it is plainly evident that those who may survive are our physical and mental deficients. It must be remembered that the first great marvel about consciousness is that the total is in the unit, the unit here being the germ plasm, and the deadly effects of nicotine and alcohol are passed on to the third and fourth generations.-Yours. May 31, 1937.