Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
To the Editor:— Two articles published in the May 27 issue ofThe Journal"Tobacco Smoking and Bronchogenic Carcinoma," by Ernest L. Wynder and Evarts A. Graham, and "Cancer and Tobacco Smoking" by Morton L. Levin, Hyman Goldstein and Paul R. Gerhardt, represent the past and present clinical approach to the cancer problem but completely miss some of the extremely interesting and basic aspects of the disease. Both articles fail to emphasize the elemental cellular unit, which is the heart of the entire problem. No matter how early cancer is seen clinically, it is biologically late, and the entire philosophy of investigation must move to this level if we ever hope to effect a cure. To illustrate from the two papers noted, in tobacco tar a benzpyrene compound can be readily isolated and, when applied to normal cells, can alter the genetic structure so that a cancer cell can be
Edwin J. Grace (Sat,) studied this question.