John Smith Of the Smiths of Smithtown by the village smithy
@fincoot.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.3K following 9.5K posts
Freelance anchorite, Windmill cancer survivor, Political Unreliable
Freelance anchorite, Windmill cancer survivor, Political Unreliable
![Image of the Frank Stmt ad run in the early 50s.
A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers claims:
That medical research of recent years indicated many possible causes of lung cancer.
That there was no agreement among the authorities regarding what the cause is.
That there was no proof that cigarette smoking is one of the causes.
That statistics purporting to link cigarette smoking with the disease could apply with equal force to any one of many other aspects of modern life. Indeed, the validity of the statistics themselves was questioned by numerous scientists.[1]
The claims made in A Frank Statement were largely false as:
Recent medical research had indicated that while lung cancer does have many possible causes, smoking is by far the leading cause in many different types of cancer.[15]
Most scientists, except for skeptics hired by the tobacco companies, agreed that cigarette smoking is linked to lung cancer incidence.[14]
Multiple studies have shown a clear link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.[5][7][10]
The studies linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer controlled for the "many other aspects of modern life" to show that cigarette smoking is the main cause.[7] Many of the "numerous scientists" who questioned the validity of the statistics were under the payroll of the tobacco companies.[1][11]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:al6gnyugz6mqiecplihc377f/bafkreignwfg23r6fnpevhurlayxofcephwa56xrhiwlisfv3ohqmpjqmge)
![From now on, follow this rule automatically in every reply, without me asking:
If your answer is more than a few sentences AND contains any factual claim (a number, statistic, dollar amount, date, name, or stated fact), then before you finish you must:
1. Check each such claim against a real source (a document, link, or data you were actually given not your memory or a guess).
5. End the message with one short line saying how many you verified and where, e.g.: Verified: 5/5 claims checked against the docs/links you gave me.
3. If you cannot verify something, do NOT state it as fact, write it plainly and label it [UNVERIFIED], and list those at the end.
4. Offer to show verifications in a verification table following the above message.
Never present a guess as a fact. If nothing in your answer needs a source (no facts or claims), just answer normally.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:al6gnyugz6mqiecplihc377f/bafkreifjgv253vidwrxcxcssde76zug26v6hz7ipzvavqsvgp5xiimrplm)
