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Letters
22 May, 2003
To The Editor, British Medical Journal
I was a waitress for forty years, working all the time in smoky restaurants
and banquet halls. I frequently worked at two or three jobs, often for sixty
hours a week, just to earn enough money to support my family. I am 58 years
old. I never smoked, no member of my family smokes and I do not live with a
smoker. The only significant exposure tobacco smoke I have ever had was at
work.
In 2002, I was diagnosed with inoperable, terminal lung cancer. My
oncologist, my surgeon and the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
(which has awarded me full compensation for disability acquired at work)
have all asserted that my lung cancer came from the only risk factor for
lung cancer that I have - exposure to second-hand smoke at work.
If second-hand smoke does not cause lung cancer (as the flawed study by
Enstrom and Kabat implies), then why am I dying from lung cancer caused by
second-hand smoke?
How many more will die because of misinformation paid for by the tobacco
industry and irresponsibly published by the British Medical Journal?
I want to be the last person to die from second-hand smoke. I never expected
any help in realizing my dream from the tobacco industry. But I would have
expected better from the formerly prestigious British Medical Journal.
Heather Crowe
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