Has Californias Anti-Smoking Campaign Reduced Lung Cancer Rates?
California authorities have recently claimed that, as a result of their anti-smoking campaigns, there has been a marked reduction in lung cancer death rates (LCDRs) in California. No doubt, there’s been a reduction, but I suggest that it’s entirely unrelated to smoking! The CDC website contains a massive amount of anti-smoking propaganda. Every so often, however, they slip up and post something that contradicts their own message. On the site, there are some maps, showing lung cancer death rates for different parts of the country. There is a caveat attached, declaring that the maps will no longer be available after June 21, 2001. However, somebody evidently slipped up and failed to delete the maps, because, as of early December, 2001, they were still there. The first map purports to show LCDR’s for “white males” during the time period 1950-1969. The only other map posted for males is for Black males, which leads me to believe that any male who was not “Black” was classified as “White” (
