Cancer Prompts Fieser Decision To Quit Smoking

Louis F. Fieser, Sheldon Emery Professor of Organic Chemistry for twenty-six years, is back in his office after a bout with lung cancer, fully convinced that he "took the rap" for forty-five years of heavy smoking.

Fieser admitted this week that he was a "three to four pack-a-day man" even while working as a member of the Surgeon General's Committee on Smoking and Health.

"Although fully convinced by the evidence," he said. "I continued heavy smoking throughout the deliberations of our committee and invoked all the usual excuses."

In a letter to the members of the committee, Fieser stated that, "My case seems to me more convincing than any statistics."

Narrow Escape

Fieser now attribution his narrow escape to his decision to give up smoking and a "lucky early diagnosis." Upon discovering that Fieser had a cancerous tumor, the professor's doctors postponed the operation long enough for a thorough physical examination which revealed a weakened heart, bronchitis and emphysema. The doctors told his wife Mary that it was doubtful he'd pull through. "But," says Fieser grinning, "I did."

With medication and a complete cessation of smoking, the accompanying disorders subsided and the operation was successful. "There was little doubt," said Fieser in his letter, "about the origin of these disorders and hence little ground for questioning the origin of the accompanying tumor."

Warning to Youth

As a newly converted non-smoker, Fieser wants to warn the young people of the nation. He would like to give the rights to his autobiographical book, "The Scientific Method" to the American Cancer Society in return for their incorporating in it the personal story of his case and distributing it to high schools across the country.

Designed for budding scientists, the book would provide Fieser with his opportunity to address youth. "They'll pay attention to what I say about smoking. I hope," he said.