§ Mrs. Renée Short asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East on 3 July, Official Report, c. 509, if, in statements about the number of premature deaths per annum from coronry heart disease, lung cancer, bronchitis and emphysema caused by smoking, he will in future use the figure of 95,000 calculated by Dr. Wald of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund epidemiology unit, in place of the figure of 50,000 which he has been accustomed to use; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg: Numbers of premature deaths attributable to smoking cigarettes may be calculated in different ways, and the result will depend on, for example, the age groups reviewed, the extent to which smoking is regarded as the main factor causing death, and which deaths are considered to be "premature." The figure of 50,000 is based on assumptions made by the Royal College of Physicians and takes account only of deaths in the age range 35 to 74. I understand that Dr. Wald's calculations include deaths at age 75 and over, and that there are other differences in the assumptions he makes. I am satisfied that the figure of 50,000 premature deaths each year is a reasonable estimate of the death toll caused by smoking cigarettes.