The American journal of the medical sciences
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Editorial Biography Historical Article
The Underappreciated Doctors of The American Civil Rights Movement. Part I: Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, MD.
During the fight to end segregation in the United States, most of the 25 or so black physicians who had not already left Mississippi took risks to become active in civil rights locally and nationally. One of the first was T. R. ⋯ His reports of these events and collaborations with other civil rights icons helped trigger the modern civil rights movement. At the same time, he became a nationally known proponent of abortion rights and then fled to Chicago in 1956, after arming his Delta mansion with long guns and a Thompson machine gun. Howard will be remembered for many things, including his activism for the social determinants of health as president of the National Medical Association.
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Editorial Case Reports Historical Article
Booker T. Washington and the Secret of Hypertension in African Americans.
Booker T. Washington rose from slavery to become one of the most admired Americans of his time. ⋯ At that time the medical profession was just beginning to recognize the importance of hypertension as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In spite of intensive research fueled by ongoing speculation, why Washington might have been predisposed to the ravages of hypertension, and African Americans continue to be so predisposed, is a secret yet to be told.
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Editorial Comment Historical Article
Tuskegee: from science to conspiracy to metaphor.
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The detrimental health effects of cigarette smoking, including the increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disorders, and pulmonary diseases, are well established. Although most smokers express a desire to quit, 46 million Americans continue to smoke because of the nicotine addiction associated with the habit. The author, in this paper, describes the magnitude of the health risks related to various forms of tobacco use and proposes that smokeless tobacco be recommended as a cigarette substitute by persons who cannot stop smoking. ⋯ If all American smokers used smokeless tobacco instead, this would result in 12,000 cases of oral cancer per year. This is only 1/20 of all smoking-related cancers, less than 1/10 of smoking-related lung cancers, and less than half the number of oral cancers now attributed to smoking. A public health policy that recognizes smokeless tobacco as an alternative to smoking would benefit individuals confronted with the unsatisfactory options of abstinence or continuing to smoke.