Claims that cigarettes made from transgenic tobacco could be effective in fighting lung cancer were withdrawn yesterday as Academia Sinica retracted its previous statements under pressure from the medical community.
"There is no such thing as a healthy cigarette. While smoking does not necessarily result in lung cancer, it will affect about 80 percent of smokers. There is a general consensus on this point," National Taiwan University Hospital intern-al medicine chief Yang Pan-chyr (
"We know that cigarettes can lead to numerous diseases, not just lung cancer. Even if cigarettes could fight lung cancer, it would still lead to other conditions. There are around 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes, so how do you break [health effects] down?" said Yeh Chin-chuan (
Chen Hueih-min (
Chen had said that tobacco could possibly serve as a "factory" for the cost-effective production of the peptide.
However, Yeh pointed out that there was no scientific evidence that transgenic tobacco could be effective in fighting cancer.
"Let scientific evidence speak. If it is really possible that cigarettes could fight cancer, then people need to know. But, so far, there is no proof of that," Yeh said.
"We will pay attention to societal responses in the future. If developing transgenic tobacco will cause societal turmoil, then we will take that into consideration," Chen said. He also asked the public not to the stand in the way of biotechnological developments.
The applications of Chen's peptide will be difficult to predict, with companies possibly using the peptide to develop cancer-fighting transgenic tobacco.
"We are applying for a patent now, and afterward the peptide could see different applications. We as patent-holders probably have some say as to the applications and could block private companies from developing `healthy' cigarettes,'" Chen said.
Meanwhile, Consumers' Foundation president Tsai Chai-pen (
"If this [Chen's report] had been issued by any other agency, I would not have paid any attention. However, these claims were issued by the Academia Sinica," Tsai said.
"This could be used as a new excuse for smoking, but what about those who have to deal with second-hand smoke? Those who don't smoke should not be subjected to smoke in public areas," Tsai said.
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