ENVX1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cancer Council Australia, British American Tobacco, High Court Of Australia
24 Jul 2018
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Document Summary
Tobacco smoking is the largest preventable cause of cancer, responsible for more cancer deaths in australia than any other single factor. It is also directly responsible for many heart and lung diseases. However, in a hearing to the australian high court in 2012 disputing the introduction of cigarette plain packaging with health warnings: British american tobacco was prepared to accept that there are serious health consequences caused by smoking. An observational study is one in which the investigator cannot use randomisation for allocation to groups. Many research questions require an observational study, rather than a controlled experiment. To study the effects of smoking, investigators cannot choose which subjects will be in the treatment group. The conclusions of observational studies require great care. 4 precautions: observational studies cannot establish causation. Observational studies can establish association (that one thing is linked to another) Association may point to causation but does not prove it.
