Tobacco Documents Online

THE WASHINGTON POST Washington, D.C. June 25, 1964 eat Warning Label Ordered For Cigarettes But Challenges May Arise in Court, Congress By Nate Haseltine Sleff Reporeer The Federal Trade Con1- mission has ruled that cig' arettes will have to bear a waruing label that they are hazardous to health and may cause death. The order, effective on Jan. 1, 190, and a corollary order requiring similar warnings on cigarette ads on July 1, 1865, were made public yes. terday by FTC Chairman Paul Rand Dixon. Both orders are expected to be challenged In the courts. Promises of such challenges were made before the day was out by Congressmen of North Carolina, a tobacco- dependent state. Dixon said it is "enth'ely possible" that the warning labels on the packages "wlll do the Job" of alerting the public to the health hazards of cigarette smoking. It so, he said, the Commission would consider requests to abandon the advertising warnings. Waruln` 'on Forever' "But the cigarette warning labels are on forever," he de- clared at a House Commerce Committee hearing constder' Ing legislation on tobacco and tobacco products. Dixon also added that should Congres• legislate otherwisr. or even pass a Joint Resolu- llon ta) ng away this powrr it gave FTC in 1fYJtl, the FCC would acquiesce. "1ve're e creature of Con- gress." he said. Though the exact nnrda•;r of the warning label hw: nor heen formulated, he said, it would have to convey the mes- sare that "Cigarette Smoking tis Dangerous to )lenith nnd May Cause Death from t'an cer and Other Di;eases;" un 'der the Commission's order.' Asked how big the warning would have to be, Dixon said• °I'd say it would have to oc conspicuous." He ntoutly defended FTC's legal right to make such a ruling, and drew a laugh when he rrald It was "suictly ad- v[sory ... we hope we won't have to resort to formal en- forcement proceedings and sanctions: " He said the regulatory ac lion stemmed directly from the report of Public Health Service's blue ribbon jury on Smoking and Health, which early this year urged prompt remedial actions to lesseu health hazards of cigarette smoking. In his statement to the eon grestJonal committee. Dixon declared: "The proteotion of the puM Be from false, misleading, decepdve or unfair adverti.- Ing (including labeling) which may endanger human health and safety is a prlme respon• •"i11ty an%' duh• nf the Com , .:ssion .. . "Direct Statement" "Such deception may result either from a direct statement concerning a product or a failure to disclose any mate- rial fact reiating to such prod- uct " Rep Horace R. Kornegay (D-N -C) posed the hypotheti- cal quectian that if a new brand or cigarettes were mar keled In packs bearing the w o r d s"John Smith Ciga• rettes;' with no other words and no advertising, would the Commission rule this as a deceptive practice? "We might, after sludying all the facts surrounding it;' the FTC Chairman replied. Acting Chairman Kenneth .1. Roberts (D-Ala.) asked if there was a jurlsdictional dis• pute between FTC and Publtc H e a l t h Service's Food and Drug Administration. Dixon Comments Dixon replted that the FTC already has the authority, and that FDA w o u I d require a legislative amendment to its Federal Hazardous Substaact-s Labeling Act of 1960 for such authority. On 7Uesday, Dr. Luther L Terry, PHS Surgeon General, told the committee members he planned to ask Congress for such authority. He said he couldn't aay exactly when he would be prepared to do so, or even whether his leglsla- tive proposals would be ready during the present congres- sionai session. In his formal presentation, 1)iaon ended his statement with the suggestion that the' committee withhold eotion on the bills under Its considera• tion until It had an opportu• nitv to consider in detail the' Commisslon's actlon and the 201-page repor't. Rep. Kornegay asked how ttoon the report would be avallable, and Dixon replied that they were being printed. After a bit of verbal epar ring, Dixon reluctantly Pro duced about 25 copies (from Page 2 VI~8-330 0 4 briefcases of his aides in the room). One each was given to the committee members preaent Dixon then eaid the press could pick up their copies at the FTC building. It was ob- vious be had planned to with- hold distribution until cor,i- pletion of the press run and bindings. Committee members raised the possibility that the ad- verUsing ruling might never be put into effect. Dixon re- plied that this could come about by "a change in circum- StanceS " He explained lttal such a change could come thie%ff the effects of the warning labels, an effective educa- ttonal program and a volun• tary change in the type of ad- vertising now prevalent Among those who said thry would support court chal- lenges of the FTC ruling were Gov. Terry Sanford, of North Carolina and Sens. B. Everett Jordan and Sam J. Ervin, both North Carolina Democrats. Rep. L. H. Fountain, (11 N.C,) celled the regulation "capricious, arbitrary, unrea- sonablc and unsupported by fact"