Tobacco Support Programs-Reply

In Reply.— Mr. Kornegay's first paragraph accusesThe Journalof failing to adhere to the facts. What facts? His first three paragraphs and the Table aren't even relevant! My article and Dr. Moser's editorial specifically discussed mortality of ischemic or coronary heart disease. He purports to refute our data by using death rates for all forms of heart disease combined, which includes congenital, hypertensive, rheumatic heart disease, endocarditis, etc. No one claims a relationship between these diseases and smoking. The antibiotic era profoundly influenced mortality from these forms of heart disease. It is general knowledge that the total cardiac mortality has declined for more than 25 years. The Table in Mr. Kornegay's letter is taken from page 8 of Mortality Trends for Leading Causes of Death, United States—1950-1969 . Had he read on to page 10, he would have found the "pertinent data": "Thus the force of mortality for ischemic heart