American Lung Association Trudeau Medal for 1979

Our plain-English summary of American Lung Association Trudeau Medal for 1979, by L.M. Reid (1979).

The study

• Author: L.M. Reid
• Published: American Review of Respiratory Disease 120:709-711 (1979)
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This item is not a research study. It is the printed text of the American Lung Association's 1979 Trudeau Medal ceremony, published in the American Review of Respiratory Disease. It contains remarks by Dr. Lynne M. Reid presenting the medal to Dr. Oscar Auerbach, a pathologist, followed by Dr. Auerbach's acceptance speech. Asbestos is not mentioned anywhere in the text. The item presents no new research or statistical analysis; the speakers recalled earlier studies. The presentation described Dr. Auerbach's work examining human lung tissue under the microscope in relation to tobacco smoking and lung cancer. It also mentioned earlier work on tuberculosis. In the acceptance speech, Dr. Auerbach recalled past studies. He referred to a recent comparison of smokers who came to autopsy in 1955 to 1960 with those who came to autopsy from 1970 to 1977. That comparison found less change in the lining of the airways after lower tar and nicotine cigarettes. Dr. Auerbach stressed that this did not indicate a "safe" cigarette. The scanned text is badly damaged in places, with fragments of words and lines running together.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Award presentation remarks and acceptance speech, not a research study
• Who was studied: No study population; the subject is Dr. Oscar Auerbach, recipient of the 1979 Trudeau Medal. The speech recalls an earlier autopsy comparison of smokers from 1955 to 1960 and from 1970 to 1977
• Exposure: The speeches concern tobacco smoking and lung disease, especially lung cancer, and also tuberculosis; asbestos is not discussed
• Main results:
  • Recalled from earlier work, not new data: decreased tar and nicotine had resulted in a lesser degree of alteration in the bronchial epithelium (the lining of the airways)
• The authors' conclusion: In the acceptance speech, Dr. Auerbach stressed that reduced bronchial changes in people who smoked lower tar and nicotine cigarettes did not indicate a "safe" cigarette

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Lung Cancer, Autopsy.

Browse return to medical research.