WOMEN AND SMOKE.

Shannon News, 25 October 1929, Page 4

WOMEN AND SMOKE.

Is smoking*harmful to women? This is 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 die before they reach the age of two years, due primarily to nicotine- poisoning,” and that “these conscienceless baby* killers (tobacco manufactufersj should be given a lesson now that will last for the next generation,” tho 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 years ago Professor SchrumpfPierron reviewed the medical literature for the committee to study the tobacco problem.” says the Journal! “The .summary of his research is accompanied by 70 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 t-lic functions ;,r the genital system.’ “The morality of smoking by women i : not a medical concern any more than the question as to whether or not they should go bareheaded into church. A-: 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 brought forward to show in what this particular harm consists.” The long record of the Journal of the American Medical Association in fighting quacks, propagandists and questionable advertising of meditjal and food products gives this statement unusual authority.