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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Macmillan ignored smoking warning | Macmillan ignored smoking warning |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| In the 1950s the Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan put the financial benefits of cigarettes over the nation's health, records show. | In the 1950s the Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan put the financial benefits of cigarettes over the nation's health, records show. |
| Then health minister Robert Turton advised the 1956 Cabinet to "constantly inform the public of the facts" of the link between smoking and lung cancer. | Then health minister Robert Turton advised the 1956 Cabinet to "constantly inform the public of the facts" of the link between smoking and lung cancer. |
| But Mr MacMillan, who was prime minister from 1957 to 1963, said the revenue from smoking was too valuable. | |
| The shorthand notes were released from the National Archives in Kew, London. | |
| Treasury value | |
| Mr Turton told ministers there was not yet "scientific 'proof"' of the hazards, but admitted the "statistical picture is clear". | |
| Then prime minister Anthony Eden responded by saying the "time is arrived when we should decide whether we have a line". | |
| But Mr MacMillan, who became prime minister after Mr Eden resigned following the Suez crisis, said: "Expectation of life 73 for smoker and 74 for non-smoker." | |
| "Treasury think revenue interest outweighs this. Negligible compared with risk of crossing a street," he added. | "Treasury think revenue interest outweighs this. Negligible compared with risk of crossing a street," he added. |
| Peter Powell said he would not have smoked if he knew of the dangers | |
| One smoker who says he should have been warned is Peter Powell from Towcester, Northamptonshire. | |
| Mr Powell, who started smoking in the Army in the 1950s, said if he had known the damaging effects of tobacco he would never have started. | |
| Now in his 70s, Mr Powell finally gave up last year after unsuccessful attempts while in his 30s and 40s. | |
| "If I had realised then that I was going to be doing a lot of damage to myself, I wouldn't have touched them," he said. |