William Whitby, a medical practitioner, published, through his own self-publishing venture Common Sense Publications, two books in defence of cigarette smoking, Smoking is Good for You (1978) and The Smoking Scare De-bunked (1986). On 16 May 1979 he placed an advertisement in the Sydney Daily Telegraph challenging anyone to show proof that smoking had caused any cases of lung cancer. In a letter published in trade journal the Australian Retail Tobacconist of October 1979, Whitby announced the fact that no one had met his challenge.
