Tobacco Documents Online

XlHO033055 The Cigarette Ruling The Federal Trade Commission apparently has re- solved an inner Sovernment dispute over the right to regulat~ the advertisin~ and labeling o[ clKarettes. The FTC issued a rule today requiring that by next yc~f all ¢i~u'ctte labels rand advertising inform the public "that ,~arelte ~1oking is dang~rou$ to health and may cause death from cancer and other diseases." The announcement came at a House Commerce Committee hearing on smo16ng a~d health at which SurKeon General Luther L. Terry testified that the De- par|merit of Health, Education and Welfare believes more legislation would ha required bdore any federal rules could be imposed, and that the Food and Drug Admin- iatration should have the authority to require manu{actuters to put health warning labels on packs and But the FTC's ¢l~rmau, Paul Rand Dixon, corn: me~dably has decided that the bickering should end and that the public's welfare should come first. Most persons will agree with the FTC's contention ti~at it is an unfair m~d deceptive practiCe for & manufac~rer "to fail to dis- close, dearly and prominmtly, in all advertising and on ev~y ~ box, carton or other container in which cigarettes are sold" that smoking is a health hazard. Hence, it shouldn't max~er at all which Kovemment ugeney should havre the respons~ility of en{otclnK tha ruling. The important think is that the buyers of cigar- eros should be fully aware of the rbks /nvolved in smoking. There has been too much procrastination already. The U.$. Public Health Service itself issued u statement a~ ~ a~o warning that "The weiKht of the ev~dmcu is increasingly pointing in one direction: that ex~essiv~ m~oking is one ol the musativ~ factors in lung DAY~0N DALLY ~ D~v~,ou, Oh:to FTC's Ad i{ule 'rlse Federal Trade commission's rule that beginnlnK next year all cigarette la~els and adverlssing shah ~ontain a war,~ing Ihal smokinfl is dar~el~us Io health is a g~od .zove. it w~uld have been better if the rommz~ln|! I~1 th~ e,'Zacl language to be u.~.ed by cigarette nlamxfacturers [n thel|" ~srnings. Th~ ornJsslan ]ea~,,es the door ajar for c]eve!, ad men who could verbally pooh-pooh the eurgeon general's vndely publicized and doeu. mented study that links cigaretle ~moking with Cancer and other diseases. WJtiz the provision that the enmmlsszon will entertain motions before Ma~ 1, 1965 to post. pone the nz|e's effective date oz" to canre~. it allogethar, the tobacco t,dustry hs~ a fair opporbjp[t¥ to make its own v~lunta,y ad.. vez-tis]~ controls suck. NateralJ¥, the tobacco IndusZ~, doesn't want to cut its o~Tn throat---not eves in the Interes¢ o~ the naUon's. It already has pounced on the ruling as ur~fair, unwise an~ unlawlul---and possibly could w/n some sup- port through libgation. In any event, the FTC ha~ made a start. The government has a d~ep re~ponslbllity 1o I~ m[tlion Americans to pn~tact them h'om the poisonous e/f~cts o/' smoking. One w~ or another, through the tobacco Industry's honesty w|th the smoking menace, through the PI~ ruling (court battles o~ no|, or ~]ly thnm~h SlS~at a~on by Congrmm, tl~ public must b~ sufficiently [nlormed ~ha! ci~arottea art, more than Just refreshfng, rd]d