Smoking Objective of 'Healthy People 2000' Is Probably Not Attainable

WASHINGTON--The US Public Health Service's 10-year plan for improvingAmericans' health, dubbed Healthy People 2000, will be a disappointmentto antismoking forces. The goal--to decrease the number of smokersto only 15% of the population--will not be reached, and it islikely that 20% of Americans will still be smoking by the endof the century. "We're talking about a lot of people whoare going to die," said Harold Freeman, MD, chairman of thePresident's Cancer Panel.

Currently, 80 clinical trials are underway in which gene therapyis being used to treat genetic diseases, AIDS, and several typesof cancer. The newly issued patent will cover most of these trials.