Tobacco Documents Online

Page 32N T®0033033 I i JOURNAL-AW.RICAN New York, New York June 29, 196+ Attention FTC--Hot Dogs Can Cause Heartburn! LIESI,UE G® gl14Lt FIrIANCIAL 19D1IT0! The Federal Trade Commission wants the tobac- co companies to carry after Jarn. 1, next, a warning ot each label that cigaret smoking "is dangerous to health and may cause death from cancer." Additional, after July 1, 1865, all cigaret advertising-whether on the air or in publicati0ns-is to in- clude a precautionary statement. This is ridicutous and, If carried to the sublime, the FTC may next be requiring the auto companies to put a sign on their products warn- ing a bnyer that he Is risking a life- taking or maiminR accident. Excessive amoeing Is bad for a person, the same as excessive use of anything. Excessive speeding ts more than danger- ous. Excessive drinking can lead to many things. The aame for excessive eating of fce crParn, cake and pea- nuts. Eating too many hot dogs will give you heart- burn. Report Based on Statistics The basis for the FTC action Ues In statlstics, rather than on laboratory proof. There Is no labora- tory proof that cigaret smoking ever gave anyone lung cancer or any other disease. Admittedly anyone suf- fering certain diseases should retraln from smoking. Tbe same as anyone with a bum ticker should tako the elevator, rather than run upstairs. Since the FTC Is concerned about labeling. maybe It should do something about the prefixing of "doctor" to the name uf economics professors or just plain statisticians giving out of some of the anti-smoking reports. The confused public assumea "dactor" means a physician or surgeon. That isn't necessarily so, par- ticularly in this battle of smoking statistics. The battle over whether cigaret smoking Is harm- ful or not has been going on for more than a decade. It reached its climax with the U.S. Public Health Service report the first of the year that smoking Is unhealthy and linked It to cancer. The serious omis- sion in the report was skipping over filter cigarets, which now account for 80 per cent of the sales. Without going to the extremes ordered by the FTC through Its chairman. Paul It. Dixon, the public has received plenty of warning as to smoking. As far bark as World War I, they were dubbed •'cofiin nails:' But evidently, FTC Chairman Llixon thinks the aver- age American Is a moron and that'big government should protec+, him from himself and any minor vice. There Is another ridiculous angle to thls matter. While he FPC Is trying to put a crimp Into the clgaret business, another arm of the Government-the De- partment of Agriculiure-ia aubsidizing the tobacco farmers. Congress has voted down every attcmpt to abolish this. Tobacco, which Is one of the nation's six basic crops, Is supported by a 90 per cent parity, and tiov- emment warehouses are bulging with an estimated half billion dollars worth of the commodity. As part of Its Food for Peace Program, the Department of Agriculture Is exchanging tobacco around the world for other currencies, many of which are worthless. Dr. Charles W. iNayo, son of one of the co-founders of the famed Mayo CAnlc, expressed his skepticism in these words: '7 bear these things (statiatics) all the time. "I don't think you can legislate against tobacco any more you can legislate against sex and alcohot "We got Into so much trouble vrlth Prohibition before that we should have learned a lesson from that experience:' The tobacco Industry, which has set up a new ad- vertising code with a czar to police it, should fight the FTC with every legal means at hand. Forgotten In the controversy Is probably the big- gest threat to health--air pollution. Until there Is more convincing proof, itke two of the doctors on the Public Health Service panel, we're still smoking.