Tobacco Documents Online

• ',.. '" ' ' ", e/ e " " *T', #,~ "~. '~ ' ;'~'~ Dra£t "7/2 Till': TOBACCO INDUSTI~Y -- I'~IIEIIE WE STAND The origins of tobacco are lost in the antiquities of / American history. Its use can be traced to the pre-hlstoric American Indian. It served as the most important cash crop for the American colonies and provided much of the financial resources that enabled our country to gain its independence. Its use for personal pleasure and even ceremony, was widespread. But even then, as now, tobacco had its friends and foes. Sir ~alter Raleigh owed much of his politlcal'success, to the introduction of tobacco in England - but he encountered many restrictions against its use. King James I publicly denounced / smoking and even in the Colonies, support for the leaf was not total. Yet tobacco gained in popularity and its use spread around the world. "'. Today, tobacco remains a source of pleasure for millions - / but it finds itself in a whirlpool of political, social, scienti- fic and economic controversy. As an agricultural commodity, it is of no small import to our country. It is the fifth largest cash crop in the United L States. Over 400,000 American farm families are directly ,.. involved in its growth and hundreds of thousands more Americans derive their livelihood from the manufacture, d~str~bution and sale of tobacco products. ~'~_~'~'~.V' ~- "~'~"f--":~ -more- ~.~ o

It. ls estlmatod that tobacco and allied ~oods ~nd ~ervicos contribute almost 25 billion do]l~rs to the U.S. economy; and taxes to tobacco products contribute an addition~1 seven billion dollars to federal, state and local governments. Tobacco is also an integral pa=t of our international trade - accounting for a o~ over $ ~ ba lance-of- t ra~e~.p~ .... responsible segment of our population, has funded independent research in ~h~ area 9f ~mok~ng and.heaAth exceeding 70 ~ill~on but~em~nent sc~ent~sts~~ ~oth sides of the controversy. It'is clear that ~re ~nformat~on ~s nee~ed...more research, ~re sclentlf~c data. And the ~ndus~ry continues ~n ~ts role of social responsibility to fund th~s research and encourage d~scus~ion and debate. Zt is ~n this context that th~ tobacco ~nd~stry responds to the current controversy with the follow~ng principles. i. A1thouqh the man7 accusations made about tobacco and health have not ~een sc~enttf~c~ly proven, we recognize the seriousness of the ch~r~es, and we are aware of the concern they have created, amon~ both smokers and nonsmokers. We believe the clalms against smoking have not been sc~enti- ~,f~cally established and that they rest primarily studios roportlng a statistical association. It ~s our ./ v~ew that no ingredient, or group of ~n~red~ents, as found in tobacco smo~o, has been shown to bo hazardous to

He acknowledge that thero is controversy over m0ny aspects of the general problom of smoking and health, and that there is disagreement among medical experts as to whethe= / the reported associations between smoking and various ~)~ .~ .~ diseases nEe casu~l or not. The controversy has caused and are responding to that condition. ~',¢J" 2. We .re co~mlttod to the st)pport o~ continuing inde- pendent sciontlfic research to pt=rsue the m~ny unanswered scientific and medical questions on tobacco use and health. We believe the smokln~ and health controversy will not be resolved through propaganda; only scientific research will fill the gaps in knowledge which presently exist. The tobacco industry has since 1954 commltted more.th~n...~-~~ $70 millionfor~:ent research. ~ ~ The Council for Tobacco Research-0Sg, ~nc. was esta~ished by the ~ndustry in 1954. to fund independent ~tudies~ ~ " ~omp ..... ~ ......... ~ ...... its research activlty Is "directed b~ a board of independent scientists. In 1964, the ' .... tobacco industry made a commitment that eventually reached $15 million over a 10-year period for additional research conducted under the auspices of the Education and Research ~._.~/~ ~ | Foundation, an arm of the American Medical Association. • I~ addition, the industry is supporting major research projects at |~ashington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Harvard Medical School and the UC~ School of Medicine. 3. We have taken and will continue to take action'to res~nd to publlc concerns. gn 1963, the makersof 99g of all U.S. cigare~¢es discon- tinued college advertising and promotional activity, con- "~ firming the policy that smoking is a custom of personal choice to be decided upon by mature persons in light of all available information.

In 1965, the industry pledged lts,~l[ to abstain from advertising In school and college publications, not to distribute sample cigarettes or engage in promotional efforts on school and college campuses; not to use testimonials from athletes or other celebrities who might have special appeal to young people. The industry also pledged to use models in advertising who are and who appear to be over 25 years of age. In 1969, the industry agreed to withdraw from all broad- cast advertising provided Congress granted the industry al~ anti-trust immunity, without which the voluntary agreement would have been impossible. In 1970, the industry agreed to provide consumers with FTC "tar" and nicotine ratings in all advertising. • In 1971, the industry !.n .......... the FTC challenged the conspicuousness of the disclosure, each company consented to an order requiring the placement of a separate warning statement in a black-bordered box in all advertisements. 4. We recoqnize the reasonableness of limitations on 9moklng under certain circumstances. The lndustry does not believe that smoking is appropriate under all circumstances. Reasonab].e restrictions may be approprlat~on smoking elevators~and other locations where smoking may be considered a fire hazard,or where poor ventilation would create obvlous discomfor~ for both s~kers and nonsmokers. We are not opposed to smoker/nonsmoker separation in any public area as long as it is done voluntarily. We believe that in a free market system, business owners may choose to restrict or not to restrict smoking, based on their own Judgments as to how best to serve their customers. We strongly oppose government attempts to dictate to owners and their patrons on matters ~nvolv~ng personal behavior.

5 Ne do not b~lieve chil~ron ~hou1¢1 um¢~9; we tako no should have Info~me~ ~ce~om of choice to ~moke or not sm~ke~ that state and local governments should not,. permit children to purchase tobacco proSucts. 4" The voluntary actions we have taken to discontinue , advertising and promotional activities which may have appealed to youth support our policy that smoking is an adult custom. We believe that whether or not to smoke is a personal decision which shot~Id be made by mature persons after they have heard arguments on all sides. Only a handful of states have no statutes regarding the sale of tobacco products to minors. 6. We recognize that smoking may be an annoyance to some and we urge smokers to practice simple rules of courtesy in their relationships with n6nsmokers. Numerous scientists, physicians, government 6fficials and health experts have studied the effect of environ7 mental smoke on nonsmokers. These studies have not,~. ~', ~ that other people's smoke causes disease zn nonsmokers. Even some of the most avowed critics of smoking, have acknowledged that smoking has not been established as a cause of disease in nonsmokers. We are aware, however, that smoking is an annoyance to some. Thus, we do not advocate an absolute right to smoke in total disregard of anyone else. We do, however, oppose legislation that overregulates personal behavior, which we believe should and can be handled by the exercise of common sense and common courtesy. We believe that annoyance can come from many situations in the increasingly accelerated interpersonal relation- ships in today's society. Loud music, barking dogs, oppressive perfume, bad breath are typical of evuryday annoyances which can disturb people. Clearly, it is neither practical nor desirable to legislate in this area. -more-

7. We believe that the ,~overmBent hau tha duty to inform people of .~otontial health hazards, but we strongl~y o_~o~e unwarranted ~overnmental intrusion in areas of personal behavior. The public has been adequately informed. Cigarettes are the only major consider product with a prominent warning on all packages, cartons and advertisements. The warning, together with the mass of--~bliclty regarding the alleged effects of smoking, which emanates from government and private health agencies, has made the American public more aware of this subject then perhaps any other health controversy. He accept the need for regulatlon in the publlc interest; we oppose such regulation when it seeks to trespass into areas of personal conduct. We are opposed to unnecessary public smoking laws also on the grounds that they take up precious public funds, contribute to court case backlogs and give added burdens to law enforcement officials. We believe further that unenforceable laws erode public respect for the law. • 8. |~e believe that full., free and informed discussion of the smoking and health controversy is in the public interest. The Tobacco Institute was formed to communicate the industry's position on matters involving tobacco. We believe the American public has a right to hear all positions in the controversy involving ~moking and health, not just those advanced by anti-smoklng groups or public officials. We belleve the debate on tobacco and health has often been characterized by careless statements and unsub- stantiated charges. We belleve the smoking and health controversy should be approached objectively and sclentiflcally. In the final analysis, we believe the public interest will best be served by disinterested objective inquiry by qualified scientists. (Additional information and s~pporting material on all points mc, du in this document are available upon request to the Tob.~cco ]n::titute, 1776 K Str(:ut ::.W , Was.hinqton, l).C. 20006)