May 25, 1962 - Two Federal agencies are preparing reports dealing with the possible connection between cigarette smoking and cancer. The first agency, the Federal Trade Commission, has ordered one of its bureaus to draw up a report to help it decide whether cigarette companies should be compelled to include in their advertising a warning about the possible health hazards in cigarette smoking. The second, the Public Health Service, is preparing a report for President Kennedy on the medical evidence linking smoking and cancer. The President called for the medical report after having been questioned on the subject at his news conference on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Public Health Service said today that the agency’s position for several years had been that the evidence indicated cigarette smoking was a principal cause in the increase in lung cancer. That will be the position in the report prepared for the President, the spokesman said. The tobacco industry insists that the link between smoking and cancer or other diseases has not been proved. It says that air pollution is a much likelier cause.
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