§ 16. Mr. Osborneasked the Minister of Health, in view of the current researches being conducted on this subject, if he will approach the American Medical Association and obtain their permission to publish as a White Paper their recent report on the relationship between cigarette smoking and cancer.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodI see no good reason why a particular report of this kind, which is only one of several studies of the subject, should be published as a White Paper.
§ Mr. OsborneSince this is, I understand, an authoritative report by a responsible medical body, does my right hon. Friend not think that its publication would help to allay the understandable fears of smokers because of cancer and would help his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to retain the £630 million in duty which he gets from tobacco?
§ Mr. MacleodThere are dozens of reports, all, presumably, claiming to be authoritative, being published at the present time. If my hon. Friend is a heavy smoker and is concerned about the connection between cancer of the lung and smoking, I would recommend him to give up reading.