Tobacco Documents Online

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY LEXINGTON'. KENTUCKY 40536•0084 ALVERT B. CH:NUi.ER ViOICI,:. CCNT.ER. i.CtiEC.E Oi . f....RTtittfi7 EF •.:EOIQINE Daniel H. Simmons, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Medicine-Pulimonary UCLA School of Medicine Center for the Heal!thiSciences Los Angleles, CA 90024 Dear Dan, This acknowledges your letter of January 5, 1982, regarding my contribut- ing a chapter on "Tobacco" for Volume V of CUR'RENT'PULMONOIA GY. I am sorry we have not touched base by telephone, but we recurrently seem to miss each other...you do have a nice secretary, however. In giving thought to what should be in a chapter of this nature for an annual review of pulmonary diseases, I spenL some time looking around to see how others have reviewed this topic. Essentially, they have not! It also is surprisi~ng to appreciate that cigarette smoking has not been included elsewhere in other tests. My thoughts on what should be in this chapter are as follows. First, following a brief introduction, I think this chapter should minimize a:repeti- tious litany of the chronology linking smoking to lung disease, for that is extensively available elsewhere, is not new, and has little pragmatic value in an annual "update" of pulmonary medicine. It should be reviewed succintliy, however, and with!as much relievance as possible. With that introduction, I thought I would review the role of tobacco smoking in the major lung diseases: Non-neoplastic broncho pulmonary disease, lung cancer, environmental and occupational lung disease and other pulmonary health or disease considerations. I think that the emphasis on tobacco interactions with other factors is important, for tobacco does not exist in isolation nor is it used alone in our society. Then, I thought it would be relevant to address the matter of passive smoking in the'nonsmoker. I would briefly comment, as weLl, on other forms of tobacco use and lung disease. Lastly, I want to emphasize considerations on human behavior and cigarette smoking, including considerations of modifying smoking behavior and cessation of tobacco smoking. In final perspective, some assessments of the commercial, tobacco cigarette used today, as well as trends in consumption, are important, an&that section might be moved up tolthe begining. 0 420 7 1 'i 95 6 ; I have outlined these thoughts briefly, and append that outline. I would welcome your response, as welil: as that of other contributors. There certainly will be over-liap, and someone should make a decision early on where to place the emphasis. I recently wrote a chapter on oxygen toxicity in book that had a lot of potential over-lap, as well, and it was handle&very nicely by the . AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY UNIVERSITY

C -2- .editor through early exchange betweemcontributors of chapter outlines and preliminary drafts, as well as a lot of telephone communications. Feel free to circulate this letter and chapter outline to others. When you have a complete list of chapters and contributors I would find it helpful to have a copy. I really enjoy writing more than any other aspect of academic medicine, I believe, and I am looking forward to developing this contribution. What is our time-table? Thank you for the opportunity to participate. Sincerely, Gary L. Huber, M.D. Professor of Medicine GLH':aff