§ 24. Mr. Hastingsasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the steadily increasing death rate from cancer of the lung, and the need for direct evidence and an authoritative statement as to the relationship between smoking and this disease, he will recommend the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the matter.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThis is a matter for scientific research and assessment, rather than for a Royal Commission. In 1957 the Medical Research Council made an authoritative assessment of the evidence then available, and research is continuing.
§ Mr. HastingsDoes not the right hon. and learned Gentleman realise that the public is waiting for an authoritative statement by an independent body and perhaps rather suspects doctors and the other members of the Medical Research Council? The public is being told one thing by the Medical Research Council and something quite different by the tobacco manufacturers, and it wants to know what is true. Would it not be useful if the right hon. Gentleman set up a Royal Commission of responsible men and women to come to some conclusion and let the public know the truth?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI would be sorry to think that the public was suspicious of doctors in this or, indeed, in any other context. On medical and scientific questions, it is advisable to have regard to the careful assessments made by doctors and scientists. The Medical Research Council, in a statement in 1957, concluded that it was reasonable to associate a major part of the great increase in lung cancer with tobacco smoking. No new information of major significance has come to hand since then, but there have been follow-up reports from various countries that have tended to confirm that assessment.