Guildford Misc
2-page document: N.M. GILLIAM, HSQ.s LEAF DEPT,t MILLSAh~.
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N.M. GILLIAM, HSQ.s
LEAF DEPT,t
MILLSAh~.
I 146D
D.Go FELTON,
S0UTH~ON.
19th Noven~ar, 1962
Thank you for sending me a copy of your letter to Me. ~dd
concerning my note of my recent visit to S~ltze~land. ,"
In one important respect you appeared to have misinter-
preted my meaning and as this underlies much of your argument
in the subsequent paragraphs, I hasten ~ tl~ to set the
mstte~ straight.
The proposed Information Centre is in no way intended to
disseminate to the general public information about tar and
nicotine contents in the ~noke of cigarettes but to prevent
exactly that. It was.envisaged primarily as a means of
gathering information ~medical, epidemtologtcal, etc.) in the
fleld of smoklng and health, digesting thls and then supplylng
It~ through the President, to the member companies of ASKo
It would thus serve as a readV source of information to the
President In countering attacks on the industry which may be
made from time t;o time. Once:such an organlsatlon is estab-
lished, the n~ber companies of ASFC could proceed to the
development of standard methods for use ~thtn the industry
on a national or international scale. It was to stave off
this development that I placed greatest importance on the
establishment of the Information Centre. T.M.S.C. has been
in existence for a number of years andt although standard
methods of smoke analysis have been, and are belng~ v~rked on,
no flood of analytical results has taken place,
To have wtthin the industz7 standard methods of analysis
is useful, especially whe~ dealing with claims made outside.
Suc~ outside claims are best handled on an industry basis
because In this way co-operation on an international scale
becomes possible and a united defence can be put up. ~reover~
it helps to tie down the odd '~daverick" which there may be
within the industry in one countz7,
If a suitable candidate for the post of scientific adviser
can be found, he should be able to exert a restraining influence
on the more vocal members of the ASPC and should damp ~v~ Just
those features you find so disquieting, He v~uld, for example,
C
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N.M. Gilliam, Esq.
-2-
19th Noven~er, 1962
be able ~o point out that tar and ntcotlne analyses are
scienUflcally of little meaning and may even be n~sleadtng
in a health context. If the Swiss Federal Health Authorities
are contemplating a review as indicated by Waltz, then the
scientific adviser would be able to present counter reasons
on behalf of the industry as a whole, ~ather than f~om the
point of view of one or more individual manuŁacturers.
I apologise for hav~ng apparently mtsled you by ~y note.,"
I ~ealise now that I should perhaps have amplified the thinking
behind tjne discussions, but when I wrote the account I assured
that everyone ~eadtng it ~uld be aware of the parallels between
T.MoS.C.~ the Gez~an Forscbungsstelle and the proposed Swiss
set-up.
c.c. D,S.F. Hobsonp P sq.
J.G,D. lqudd, Esq,
H.D. Anderson~ ~sq.
O
cZ~
--..a.
