Tobacco Documents Online

SHOOK, HARDY ~. BACON C~K & HENDERSON. June 4, 1979 .,~,~,.-~,'. ~* Mr. Thomas F. Ahrensfeld Mr. Max H. Crohn, Jr. Mr. Ernest Pepples Mr. Arthur J. Stevens Re: Joint Meeting of National Associations-- ICOSI, May 20-23, 1979 With my letter of May 29, 1979, I sent to you some materials that were distributed at the above meeting together with the agenda and list of delegates and presenters. As promJ.sed, the~e follows a brief "highlight" report of the various presentations. This conference was the first of its kind. The ICOSI member companies (BAT, Gallaher, Imperial, R. J. Reynolds, Reemtsma, Rothman's and Philip Morris) invited national trade associations representing the tobacco industry in the following 13 countries or areas: Australia Holland Belgium (and Benelux countries) Ireland Canada Norway Denmark Switzerland Finland U.K. France (importers) U.S.A. Germany The general purpose of the conference was to introduce ICOSI to the represented national trade associations and to explain its role in assisting the associations in meeting the various international anti-tobacco efforts. Mr. Theo van Gorkom, the chairman of ICOSI's Executive Committee, traced the development~•

June 4, 1979 Page Two and history of ICOSI from its birth in 1976 to the present time. He emphasized that ICOSI was established primarily to provide an exchange of views and information on smoking issues around the world. Although its formation has taken time, Mr. van Gorkom hoped that it would be viewed as "better late than never." ICOSI will remain in the "background" and will fulfill its role by providing the national trade associations with information, documentation and encouragement to meet the smoking issues in the various represented nations. Although the issues facing the industry are viewed as international, the answers are not neces- sarily so. That is, the "answers" may have to be tailored to meet national conditions. ICOSl will provide the means of estab- lishing a communication and information exchange which has hereto- fore been at best limited. Mr. Julian Doyle, the Secretary General of ICOSI, also welcomed the delegates and presenters. He views ICOSI as provid- ing an opportunity for open communication between ICOSI member companies, national associations, and the ICOSI central office in Brussels. He explained that the major threats to the industry are believed to be in the areas of law and legislation. However, the social acceptability issue was felt to have a major influence :n these problem areas. He expressed the firm intention of maintaining a positive mood of cooperation with the national associations. With the beginning provided by this meeting and the partnerships that would be created, Mr. Doyle hopes to assist the national associations fight the important battles involving the industry. With this positive introduction, the presentations as outlined in the program agenda began. Dennis Durden, ,chairman of the Social Acceptability Working Party, chaired the meeting for the remainder of the first day. He outlined the anti-smoking efforts including social pressure, smokers' guilt, restriction of places to smoke, increase in costs, smoking as an unfashionable practice, limitations on the industry's freedom of speech and isolation of the tobacco industry from other industries. To meet these challenges, counter- measures are needed and a general plan was outlined. Background information was presented to the group to enable them to assess the situation in the various countries and provide a basis on which to evaluate countermeasures. On the second day, Ed Jacob presented a public smoking position paper and Horace Kornegay, together with Jack Kelly and

,~HOOK,HARDY ~ BACON June 4, 1979 Page Three Bill Kloepfer, described industry activities in the Jones hearing and other public smoking issues in the United States including Proposition 5 in California and the recent Dade County Initiative. The types of countermeasures used in each of these instances were fully discussed and commented on. During this discussion and in others, the importance of appropriate checks or clearance mechanisms for public statements was acknowledged. Thereafter, similar presentations of local situations were made concerning Australia, Canada, Switzerland, U. K., and Germany. A general explanation of the ICOSI-EEC Task Force on Consumerism was given and its effectiveness in the current situa- tion discussed. On Wednesday, Dennis Durden and George Berman gave a detailed presentation of the Social Cost/Social Value Project presently underway. This presentation was similar to the one previously given to the Committee of Counsel and was well received by the Zurich group. Later the function of the Countermeasures Task Force, newly formed by ICOSl, was explained to the group. This task force, headed by R~chard Corner (PME Lausanne), will analyze ,~ou~,termeasures which have been used around the world and develop an inventory of these as well as proposals that can be used by the various national associations. It is hoped that the task force will be able to make a general report to the Executive Committee of ICOSI by September of 1979. Thereafter, the task force will continue its development of countermeasures in coopera- tion with various national associations. Information and proposed countermeasures will be shared among the national associations and ICOSI member companies. As previously mentioned in my letter of May 29, the Fourth World Conference Task Force chairman, Mr. Jules Hartogh, explained to the delegates what information and assistance they can expect from the. coverage of the Fourth World Conference in Stockholm and how the Task Force would respond to inquiries or information requests from the national associations. It was announced that the World Health Organization will, on April 7, 1980, launch its year-long program against smoking. The probable theme is "Smoking or Health--the Choice Is

June 4, 1979 Page Four Yours." The recently issued WHO Expert Committee's report "Con- trolling the Smoking Epidemic" is an indication of the emphasis and direction of the K~O antismoking efforts in this regard. At the conclusion of the conference, the delegates and presenters expressed the belief that the conference had been extremely beneficial and useful to them. The smaller associations especially look forward to the help and assistance that ICOSI might be able to provide them. Should you have any questions concerning any of the matters discussed above, please let me know. With best personal regards. Sinc~relfl, Donald K. Hoel DKH:sh cc: Mr. Alexander Holtzman Mr. S. B. Witt ~II