Tobacco Documents Online

~ ~, ~ditor: Paul Knopick • 2 N~INsNTI-_'WSWO RT HY DEVELOPMENTS 0 © Number 302 March 23, 1982 I WASHINGTON I "THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION'S rapid retreat from its announced support of legislation to put stronger health warning [abels on cigarettes followed a barrage of complaints to the White House from tobacco- state Congressmens" The Washington Post reported. (A complete report on this and the Senate hearing on the bill is included in this Newsletter.) THE CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD rejected a complaint by the anti- smoking group Action on Smoking & Health, which claimed that 12 major airlines are in violation of CAB rules governing smoking because they turn off part of their ventilation systems (to save fuel) during flights. AS PREDICTED (NL 299), Rep. Miller (D-Calif.) introduced a bill to compensate vlctims of asbestos and uranium-ore related diseases. The money would come Prom manufacturers and employers, placing the "financial burden where it properly belongs," said Miller in the Congressional Record. Earller bills introduced by Rep. Fenwick (R-N.J.} called for the tobacco industry to share the cost of eompensatlng asbestos workers. Miller's does not. © I INDUSTRY 1 "SMOKING DIPS for the 8th year," said the Chicago Tribune headline. It was referring to preliminary D.S. Department of Agriculture figures, showing that per capita consumption dropped slightly in 1981 from 1980 totals. IN ORDER TO INCREASE "unity, efficiency, and effective- ness," The Tobacco Institute and the Tobacco Tax Council will be amalgamated, according to a joint statement. Staffs of the two organizations will be combined in the coming months. O]

TI Newsletter 2 March 23, 7982 The USDA release, however, emphasized that last year's cigarette output, a record 736 billSon cigarettes, is an inorease of 3 percent from 1980, and ~hat U.S. smokers oonsumed ~bout I percent more last y~ar than in 1980. CURTIS ,~. JUDGE~ ~iden& of Lo~i~l~d, to~d t~e National Associa- tion of Tobacco Distributors, m~ti~g ~n Wa~hi~g~on~ D.C.. they TI'e new ad ~mpaign answ~ning ~ome of ~h~ m~st asked q~tions a~o~ ~moki~j oi~l ~!~ou Jm~g~ to $ee toba~oI~ 8id~ of tAe stony "without it b~ing f~te~ed thno~ ~om~ ~nu~ading ~eponten." "A FEW YEARS ago, the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. was in finaseial trouble~ but the company ~treamlined some of its operations and is cn the move agatha" said an AP ~rtiele, headlined in the Raleigh News & Observer "L&M rolling again," A CONSENSUS is emerging for making sweeping changes in the tohacco price s~pport program, including charging farmers a fee ts help make it a "no cost" program for ta×payers~ The New York Ti~es reported. It quoted Reid ~ose (D-R.C.): "This is a bold deoarture from all other commodity programs. We are the first commodity to assume full responsibility for principal and interest." IN COURT ruled that a does not have a constitutional right The lawsuit had asked for nearly $12 to an Oklahoma City newspaper. AN OKLAHOMA CITY U.S. DISTRICT judge has state government employee to a smoke-free work p7ace. million in ~amages, according The judge said interpreting the Constitution "to protect nonsmokers from inhaling tobacco ~moke" would broaden it "to limits heretofore unheard of," tbe newspaper said. THE SUPREME COURT ha~ declined to involve itself in the nation- wide lega~ battle ore~ who should compensate workers who contract diseases from on-the-job exposure to asbestos, %he New York Times reported. ONe result of this, it said, "may be to increase pres- sure o~ Congress to devise a legislative solution." In H~rtford, Conn., a Federal jury ruled that ~nu facturers and suDoliers of asbestos are not responsible for the Iung problems of a !cngtime shipyard worker. TNe defendants successfully argued thst his lung p-oblems stemmed from other causes, such as hie smoking of non- filter cigarettes for 45 years~ The New York Times reported. O1

TI Newsletter 3 March 23, 1982 ATTORNEY MELVIN BELLI plans to file yet another lawsuit against the cigarette industry, this time for the family of a 20-year smoker who died of throat cancer, the Richmond Times reports. "This is the one we've got them on," Belli told the newspaper. I MEDIA "I~l THE FULLNESS of time, Americans may come to regard The Tobacco Institute the way we recall the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda," writes Peter Ognihene, a freelance writer, in the Chicago Tribune. Bob~etz, Wichita Eagle-Beacon columnist, said TI must have 6roucho Harx as vice president, since it says a smoking and health controversy still exists. To assert that there "is no direct evidence that smoking causes any kind of cancer is monstrous, said the Lewiston, Maine, Morning Tribune. John Alexander, a Greensboro, N.C., editor and columnist, called TI's arguments pathetic. MORE EDITORIAL COMMENT on the Surgeon General's r~pont: The "finding~ are clean evidence that the job of informing the p~blic on ~moking'~ danger~ should be pursued vigorously, not diminished," said The Miami H~rald. John McMullan, executive edivor of that newspaper, wrot@: "Fo~ th~ first ~tme, the~e is seriou~ interest in whevhen the damaRe that smoken~ are doing to themselves is a~so damaging the innocent nonsmokers." The Milwaukee Jounnal said the report Rives the State A6sembly "ampl~ reaso~ to e~aat an ev2n ~tron~er Clean I~door AIr Act." EeainaZd Lesten, director of the Tobacco Growers~ Information Committe~, wa~ q~oted in a Rishmon~f paper saying the govennment "lied" to its citizens tn the ~eportt8 aonc~io~, Eagd The Hartford Co,rant: "If gov~nn~ent can't or won't etop people from committing s~icide, it sho~d at least make them constantly awar~ of what they're doing." NOW AVAILABLE: New state booklets in the tobacco heritage series on North and South Carolina, which can be used with data cards featuring economic statistics on these two tobacco-growing states. The books feature bits of history surrounding the cultivation of tobacco in the Tar Heel and Palmetto States. ~Iso available, a new listing of all TI publications. Write Production Services.

TI Newsletter 4 March 23, 1982 CALLING CIGARETTES "legal killers," Richard Cohen1 Washington Post columnist, said: "if any other product killed and maimed on this scale, it would hardly be allowed to be sold, not to men- tion advertised." Children who smoke, he wrote, "are sure as shooting killing themselves." EIGHTY-FOUR PERCENT of smokers polled by the Detroit News said smoking is hazardous to health. Sixty-four percent of these said they plan to stop, the newspaper said. One woman said she is quitting after her daughter saw a movie in school that "described smoking as eating spoonfuls of tar." THE APPLETON (Wis.) Post-Crescent "does not intend to carry the torch for TI .... But we wonder whether some proposals now before Congress to require stiffer warnings on the dangers of smoking are really warranted," it says in an editorial. TWO BLACK NEWSPAPERS in New York carried the same article, saying there is "growing black opposition to anti-smoking legislation," The story cited statistics compiled in New York and Chicago, where the vast majority of those charged with violations of smoking laws on mass transportation apparently are nonwhite. The editor of New York Voice, dames Hicks, is quoted saying, "These percentages pin~ ~acism that's behind such a situation." A LETTER to the Detroit Free Press has a different complaint, in the tobacco smoke/nonsmoker controversy. "There ought to be a few places where a guy can still light up a cigar without enduring ...indignant outrage. Barrooms and racetracks are definitely two such places," said the writer. He complains that some females have become "shrewish complainers" about smoke. ~Ladies seeking positions previously held mostly by men should be willing to accept the traditional environment that goes with the Job," writes Ken McComb. "CIGAR HALES today are at their lowest poiot since 1930~ when people first began keeping track," said a New York Times feature. 61 It quoted a cigar plant manager: "We've got a product that doesn't~ appeal to women, is scorned by health groups, and is = ' elated with a select group of consumers not in the majority." HEALTH I MATTHEW L. MYERS, the FederaL Trade Com- ORGANIZATIONS m~sslon attorney who directed its staff report urging "stronger" ciqarette health warnings, has been named O 0 0 G1

TI Newsletter 5 March 23, 1982 staff director of the new Coalition on Smoking OR Health. Head- quartered in Washington, D.C., the fledgling lobbying organization is backed by 30 voluntary health, education, and youth groups, including the American Cancer Society, Lung and Heart Associations. WHEN THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSCCiATION filed with the Federal Trade Commission on FTC's staff report urging "stronger" health warnings on cigarettes, it included a three-page memo it had sent to con- stituent and affiliate associations (8/13/81) criticizing TI's full-Dace ads on the Nirayama research. It said, "Whether or not passive smoking causes lung cancer is now the subject for more rescarch. Those recent studies are far too few at this point to be conclusive." It concluded: "The burden of proof that secondhand smoke does not cause cancer must rest squarely on the tobacco industry. Where are their studies?" NONSMOKER ISSUE "YOUR EMPLOYEES who smoke are costing you money," Says a new booklet issued by the American Council of Life Insurance. Losses in producti- vity in 19B0 due to smoking were estimated at $36 billion, the booklet says. "The history of cigarette smoking is a continuing national tragedy." A GRAgUATE PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT at San Francisco Svate Univ. ~tabbed in ths ahesb a female student in an elevator wNen she apparently would not put out he~ aiganette, according to p~e~s ~eponts, Richard Mo~s, who w~ booked fo~ invectiEation of assa!~Iv with a ~e~adly weapon, told AP, "i definitelH think l ~a~ the viatim. She thought she ~ad a ~ight to poll~ve my air." He claimed that Dori~ Cellum jumged on him, and that he atabbed her in ~elf- e~fens~ apparently was not bad~!y hu~t.• NONSMOKER CRUSADERS are hailing the new Surgeon General's report on smoking~ said an article in the Bichmond Times-Dispatch. "This is certainly going to lend support to efforts to restrict smoking in public places," said John ganzhaf of Action on Smoking & Health.~"~ "FURTHER RESTRICTIONS On smoking in public places are ex- pected as a result of the Surgeon General's reoort indicating a cancer risk to nonsmokers," predicts The ~ Washington Letter. "Many restaurants don't mind," it says, "less lingering over coffee and cigarettes." EXCUSING A JUR@R who objects to smoking during deliberations would be opening a "Pandora's box," said the court commissioner in Anne Arundel County, Md., in refusing to excuse an anti-smoker from

TI Newsletter 5 March 23, 1982 jury duty. He then refused to ban smoking in jury rooms, an Annapolis ~ewspaper repo~bed. PODALE PRESS, which employs 800 in publishing a number of healtn magazines, said work place smoking will be banned in their offices in 1983, UPI reports. "We're not saying we won't hire s~okers, said chairman Robert Rodale. "What we are telling them is not to smoke in someone else's face." FOR[IGN AUSTRI3N TOBACCO companies have agreed not bo advertise cigarettes yielding more than 20 mg tar and not to advertise nonfilter cigarettes, European p~blications report. Radio and TV Ma!avsi~ has banned cigarette commercials, UPI reported. A LONG-AWAiTED agreement betwee~ British tobacco industry a~d government on sports sponsorship was announced, London newspapers reported. It mandates that health warnings must appear on adver- tising for these sponsored events. SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES banned smoking on its one-hour flight between QSlO and StQckholm (NL 294~ as a~ e×periment. It failed. 8&S ~d fro~p survey that, although 68 percent liked the change, 30 percent of the smokers vowed to switch airlines. RESEARCH "NEARLY 80 PERCENT of smokers have blood carbon monoxide levels potentially hazar- dous to their health," reported AP on a new government study. "By comparisonj national survey data have shown that less than 5 percent of nonsmokers have potentially hazardous CO blood levels~" said AP about the National Center for Health Statistics report. Any level above two percent was potentially hazardous, ~] the study said. TI told inquiring reporters that the report as "puzzling." TI "is no~ aware of shy scientific demonstration of health hazards in healthy Derson~ with CO blood levels of only two percent," a spokes- ~'~ man said. "MILLIONS OF AMERICANS risk cancer, Lung diseaset and other Life- threatening illnesses by living near 312 industrial pL&nts that pollute the air with three billion pounds of toxic substances yearlyr" environmental groups charged, UPI reported. A group called the National Clear Air Coalition released a report, saying "a substantial fraction of lung cancer could be prevented by better control of air poIlutian."

TI Newsletter 7 March 23, 1982 A NORWEGIAN SCIENTIST, writing in The Lancet, said: "I agree with [Carl] Seltzer: 'For the present then it is reasonable to believe that stopping smoking does not reduce the risk of coro- nary heart disease, and there is no established proof that cig- arette smoking is causally related to coronary heart disease.'" "THE EXCESS DEATHS ix those women using the Pill have been ~aid to be almost entirely attributable to smoking. This assertion is n~t in keeping ~ith the facts," writes Prof. X.P. Vesse,L in the British Medical Journal (2/27). An excess risk off fatal and nonfatal heart attacks and stroke also ls associated with nonsmokers who use the Pill, he writes. But, he says, "the risk of suffering a fatal arterial event attributed to use of the Pill is heavily concentrated in smokers.~' A JAPANESE STUDY in Stroke (Jan./Feb.) says the overall rate of stroke is comsistently higher in that nation compared to the U.S.~ but that there is not a significant relationship between smoking habits and the incidence of strokes. THE COTTON DUST controversy continues. A new National Academy of Sciences study of byssinosis says it is unproven that cotton dust causes Iasting lung damage. It said pulmonary emphysema in textile workers is associated with cigarette smoking and not caused by the dust. But a minority report--supported, said AP, by a number of byssinosis researchers--said cotton dust does cause brown lung disease. Also, a three-year study by the World Health Organization9 just released, said cotton dust causes both im- mediate and long-term lung disorders. SOME 20,000 PHYSICIANS are being sought as volunteers for a major ~overn~ent experiment to see whether beta-carotene, a common nutrient found in vegetables, can reduce the risks of cancer, including lung cancer. Harvard Univ. scientists will conduct the trial, which also will attempt ~o determine if aspirin reduces heart attack occurrence. I TAXES l RNCDE ISLAND became the second state this year to hike its cigarette tax, from 18 to 23 cents per pack. DR. RICHARD HICKE~ who recently submitted ~stlmony to Congress stressing that scien- tific questions remain in smoking a~d health, was quoted in ~he Pennsylvania Gazette saying that the Council for Tobacco Research, which supports some of his work, puts no restraints on him. "They

TI Newsletter 8 March 23, 1982 are pretty well convinced that ascertainment of the facts or truth will not hurt them hut might be damaging to their de- tractors," Hickey said. A GEORGIA LEGISLATIVE committee LEGISLATION killed, 5-10, a clean indoor air act that would have restricted public smoking, including in restaurants. Hawaii's House approved a till -estricting smoking in state buildings. The measure goes to its Senate. Idaho's Senate by voice vote approved a resolution recommenG,ng smoking/no-smoking sections in public places, including re~%aurants. A new Rhode Island bill would restrict smoking in public places including school buildings, supermarkets, hospitals, and medical offices. JOSEPH K~TZ, representing TI at a hearing in Trenton on bills to restrict public smoking, was quoted by a New Jerse~ paper saying: "What we've got here is a set of laws in search of a problem. If you take the emotion out of them, they are meaningless." A Conneetlcut legislator intro- duced a measure to force the tobacco industry to manufacture "self-extinguishing" cigarettes. Punta Gorda (Fla.) council defeated a proposal to restrict oublic smoking. Huber Heights (Ohio) council banned smoking at public meetings. - SPECIAL REPORT • SENATE HEARING/WARNING LABEL ~ILL • "U.S. RETREATS from Support of Stronger Cigarette Warning" head- lined The Washington Pos~ in a page one story about testimony by Assistant Health Secretary Hrandt on a bill by Sens. Hatch (R- Utah) and Packwood (R-Ore.) to replace the current label with a rotating series. [A subsequent Post story, reported as the lead item of this newsletter, claimed that political pressure caJsed the Administration to change its mind.] Brandt testified that although the Administration supports stronger health warnings, the "specific wording" and ways in which they may he used is "still being studied." Packwood, saying he sensed a weakening in Administration sl]pport, wondered aloud whether Brandt's testimony last week (EL 3CI) touched a "sensitive nerve" somewhere. "Your testimony does not reflect quite that staunch support we saw five days ago, the Oregon Senator said. C

TI Newsletter 9 March 23, 1982 THE HEARING BEFORE the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee also featured testimony by representatives of voluntary health agencies and the tobacco industry and from scientists. Before testimony began, Sen. East (R-N.C.) called the measure a "bad bill" that would saddle a legitimate~ honorable, 10ng-standing industry with excessive bureaucratic regulation. "We are a little weary of being punching bags for those who look upon this as the only health issue in the U.S.," he said. WILLIAM POLLIN, M.D., National Institute on Drug Abuse director, termed cigarette smoking "the most widespread example of drug dependence in this country." In his testimony, Univ. of Utah's John Holbrook called tobacco additives "an unmeasured risk for the active smoker, the involuntary smoker, and the unborn child." Speaking for the new Coalition on Smoking OR Health, Dr. Charles ~. LeMaistre said the general message and sameness of the current warning has caused it to lose its effectiveness. Rotating labels would "improve the ability to make an informed choice on the de- cision to smoke or not to smoke." TI EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CIIAIRMAN ~ told the com- mittee the bill would be "counterproductive" because it would create clutter in the advertising marketplace and diffuse the message the comnlttee is trying to con- vey. He called the current warning "very effective." Horrigan also expressed concern about provisions calling for dis- closure of additives, saying these are among the most closely guarded of trade secrets and information about them could be leaked. Rotating warning labels "can only lead to overkill," said board chairman John @'Toole, Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency, who submitted a statement. Other suggestions on how to handle warnings were made in statements submitted by the American College of Cardiology, the National inter- agency Council on Smoking and Health, the American Lung and Heart Associations, and the Cancer Society. Sen. guddleston (D-Ky.) said in a statement that the bill should be set aside "as an unwarranted and untested intrusion." But Fla. Sen. Hawkin~ (R) said the bill simply is "an educational measure consistent with the governmer t's duty to warn consumers about adverse health effects of the substances they use." 0 0 0 0 0 ~D

TI Newsletter 10 March 23, 1982 In other news on the hearings, The Washington Post editorialized for these "sensible" bills "that should helD save lives." Rep. Waxman (D-Calif.) now has 5] cosponsors for his version of the hill. Democrats in North Carolina criticized the Administration, saying Surgeon General Koop is the Republican's Califano, a Raleigh newspaper reported. But Koop told the paper that he does not in- tend to assume the role of outspoken critic of tobacco. Dr. Arthur Furst's summary of his testimony, stressing that there is "no indication from the laboratory point of view that smoking causes cancer," may have been heard on up to 1,100 radio stations, Tl'sioonevTeohe reports. Another hearing is scheduled for Apr~ in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation p~omml~te~'~ which shares jurisdiction with the Labor and Human Resources Committee over the Hatch/Packwood bill. Packwood chairs Commerce, Hatch the Labor Committee.