Evening star., 1954-12-31

i $NNtSAtP1sttNNstta
| BERKELEY, Calf, Dec. 3l.-
Every pack Of cigarettes one
smokes after the age Of 80
reduces life expectancy by. o
fourth Of Q day.
Every Roentgen Of penetrating
radiation absorbed by the body
cuts life expectancy approx
mately o week.
These alarming statistics were
presented before the American
Association for Advancement of
Science here yesterday by DR..
Hardin B. Jones, professor OF
biophysics at the University of
California.
His figures are statistical aver
ages. They don't, he stressed,
necessarily apply to any particu-
lar individual but to populations
as q whole.
| Unrelated Lung Cancer.
The statement about cigarettes
Is entirely unrelated to the
cigarette-lung cancer controver-
Sary. DR.. Jones means that the
average smoker will die. Of any
cause whatsoever. sooner than If
he didn't smoke.
The same applies to radiation.
DR.. Jones pointed out, for. ex-
ample, that the tuberculosis
screening with x-rays, now
prevalent all over the country
and which is credited to q large
extent for radical reduction in
the disease, statistically kills
three times as many as it saves.
The screening. he said. catches
about one incipient case in TO-
600. The length Of three normal
ifetimes is subtracted from the
combined lifetime expectancy
Of the other 9,999. It doesn't
kill any particular individual.
A person is born, he said,
with q certain life expectancy
which varies greatly with indi-
viduals. It is like being born
with q certain amount Of money
in the bank. Practically from
birth one begins to draw on this
life expectancy. Every illness.
every minor infection, consti-
tutes a check on the bank ac-
count. Every stress encountered
in normal living does the same.
The illnesses and stresses don't
kill Of themselves. But somehow
they make 1t easier for some
thing else to kill sometime. That
Is, q person may die at "a
rather than 65 because of an
attack of mumps at 10.
II all infections could be
eliminat ted. most radiation
avoided, and one developed no
bad habits like smoking. DR..
Jones said. the average life ex-
pectancy in this country would
would be raised from approx
mately 20 years to IS.
II there were no checks on the
bank account whatsoever. he said,
and wars and accidents could be
eliminated, theoretically the av-
erage human being might live
1000 years. This again. Of
course. Is statistical.
Radiation is especially bad on
the bank account of life. From
cosmic rays alone. constantly
showering earth from outer
space. every human being gets
two Roentgens in a lifetime. This
cuts life expectancy two weeks.
Dental and medical radiation is
far worse. perhaps not entirely
balanced by the good it does.
Dentists especially, DR.. Jones
said. often have little under
standing Of physics and are care
less Of the amount of radiation
on both themselves and their
patients.
OVGtUE0 OS0b1S xaASAs
Because Of strict professional
school requirements, he said, both |
physicians and dentists are phys
ically a highly selected part of |
the population. Their life expec-
fancy would be expected to ex-
ceed the average Of their eco
nomic class. But sometime be-
fore middle life this starts going |
down rapidly and the death rate !
runs much above expectations.
DR.. Jones bases his conclu-
sions on q new type Of medical
statistic which admittedly gives |
startlingly different results from |
ordinary medical or actuary
tables. He believes it gives q
much truer picture.
He is well aware his state
ments may be grossly misinter-
preted unless terms are precisely
defined.
Man, he explains, has two