C&EN Talks With...Benjamin F. Byrd Jr.

The color photo on the back cover of the mass-selling weekly magazine depicts a young, attractive, denim-clad couple, wading barefoot in a stream by their camper and radiating an image of health and joie de vivre. In the man's mouth is a cigarette and over their heads a caption—"Refresh yourself." Inconspicuously off in the ad's lower corner is a small white box stating "Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health ." In recent years, public concern has risen as animal tests have successively added new members to what some call "the carcinogen of the month club." However, despite justified concern about exposure to such chemicals, there is generally far greater human exposure and far more definite proof of human carcinogenicity (but scant regulatory action) for another public health hazard—cigarette smoking—notes Dr. Benjamin F. Byrd Jr., president of the American Cancer Society and clinical professor of surgery ...