Tobacco Documents Online

Page 52N110033053 THE zMsviiLE TzMEs Louisville, Kentucky June 25, 1964 'Smokers Beware' Is Justified N 0 ONE knows absolutely and be- yond any questlon that cigarette amoldng is a cause of lung can• cer, heart disease, and other aflments. But the overwhelming mass of evi- dence accumulated up to 'this point indicates that It is. . The most authoritative compilation of that evidence was made by a com- mittee of distinguished scientists working on behalf of the federal government. Last January these men concluded that cigarette smoking was "a health hazard of sufficient im• portance in the United States to war• rant appropriate remedial aMion" Among their findings:• "The death rate for smokers of cigarettes unly ... ig about 70 percent higher than that for nonsmokers. The death rates increase with the amount smoked. . . . In comparison with nonsmokers, average male smokers of cigarettes have approximately a 9. to 10-fold risk of developing lung cancer and heavy smokers (two packs or more a day) at least a 2aiald risk." The risk Is diminished by dis• continufng smoking. Cigarette amok• bes have higher death rates from beart and circulatory diseases than nonsmokers. Research Not Enough What w o u l d be "appropriate remedial action"? It would not, at least in our opinion, inclade any futile attempt at prohibition. It would include intensified research to try to find and then remove whatever It Is in cigarette smoking that con- stitutes the health hazard. But even assuming the offending elements can be found and removed--an assump- tion that may or may not prove valid -it might be a long time before they are found. A discovery that has yet to be made and may never be made Isn't of much help for the present. As a doctor told an Amerlcan Med- ical Association committee in San Francisco this week, while research Is necessary, failing to do anything in addition Is "like a man looking for the cause of a fire while his children are screaming for help." Now the Federal Trade Commission has proposed doing something. It is• sued a rule this week requiring that all cigarette labels and advertising, beginning next year, Inform the public that "cigarette smoking is dangerous to health and may cause death from cancer and other dis- eases.° We realize that the order, assum• ing It is allowed to stand, will cause a furor. We realize that the tobacco industry is of great importance- certalnly it Is in Louisvtlle and Kentucky-as a provider of work, as a source of taaes, as a user of farm products. But we also feel that the public health should take precedence over these factors. If cigarettes are killers, the public should at least be warned of the danger. The law requires dangerous-narcottcs to be so labeled. We believe, then, that the F.T.C. has done the right thing and should ba supported In its action-and It will need support. Any Lasting EfFeet4 Whether the labeling will have any lasttng eEfect on the consumption of cigarettes, we have no tdea. Esperl- ence indicates that it may not have. After the federal report warning of cigarette smoking was iasuetl, sales fell off for some time but In April (the latest month available) sales were two billion above the same month the year before. It is entirely pos- sible, even prqbable, that the same pattern would be followed if cigarette labels and advertising had to carry warninga. If the public chooses to dfsbelieve or Ignore the warnings, that is, as far as we are concerned, each In- dividual's own business. Our concern is that the isdividual should have the warning. What he does after that Is his own decision.