Smoking, twins and lies
- From: Ray Johnstone <ray@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:53:23 +0800
Smoking, twins and lies
At the web site
http://ltdlimages.library.ucsf.edu/imagesg/g/q/i/gqi22e00/Sgqi22e00.pdf#search=%22j%20aurejarvi%20johnstone%20r%22
can be found the statement:
"The last paragraph of the page suggests that the epidemiological
proof of the connection between tobacco and illnesses would have been
proven to be wrong by using the studies of twins. Here Johnstone is
referring to the study of Cederlof. -- Even though I am a lawyer, I
still happen to know that the statement made by Johnstone is a clear
lie. This was personally said to me by Richard Doll immediately after
the release of the book of the tobacco industry in 1988."
The document is signed:
Erkki Aurejarvi
Professor of Civil Law
Helsinki
Also available in different format at
http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2501072141-2226.html?zoom=750&ocr_position=above_foramatted&start_page=71
The author is here referring to a paper I had published in 1981, "The
myth of immortality" (The Australian Surgeon, 4, 8-10). There I had
written "Perhaps the best way of eliminating many of the difficulties
associated with epidemiological studies is by comparing monozygotic
twins, one of whom smokes and the other does not . Cederlof's [9] data
(p . 96) shows that the mortality ratio for smokers as compared with
non-smokers is not significantly different from 1 . In other words,
genetically identical individuals have the same expected longevity
regardless of whether one
smokes."
Is this a "clear lie"?
The paper I referred to, "The interactions of smoking, environment and
heredity and their implications for disease etiology" (Cederlof,
Friberg and Lundman, Acta Medica Scandinavica, 1977, Supplement 612)
had this to say:
"Concerning the gross mortality, it has earlier been pointed out
(Friberg et al, 1973) that no hypermortality at that time was seen in
the monozygotic pooled high group. There is still no statistically
significant hypermortality related to smoking in the monozygotic
groups"(p113).
It is clear that my words truthfully and accurately reflected those of
the authors I had referred to.
The document of Aurejarvi does not include Doll's own words and it is
a translation of the Finnish original so Doll's part in this is
unclear. If he did lie about a matter of some importance then that is
deplorable.
Aurejarvi's role is clearer: it is astonishing that a professor of law
should have believed a demonstrably false statement and committed it
to print.
ray@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.iinet.com.au/~ray
.
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