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O,:a640 THE TOBACCO Ii\TSTITUTE 1875 1 STREET. NORTHtiVEST WrISHINGTON. DC 20006 302; 457--I830 March 6, 1980 HORACE R. KORNEGAY President CONFIDENTIAL: MINNESOTA TOBACCO LITIGATION Mr. Robert W. Graf , Second Vice President Occidental Life Insurance Company ,(r~~~ ~ i of California ' ~'~'~- Occidental Center Los Angeles, California 90015 Dear Mr. Graf: I want to thank you for your recent response to my January 31 letter to Mr. Meno T. Lake. It is pleasing to learn that Occidental Life is reexamining some of its assertions concerning smoking and disease which appeared in certain print advertisements. I must admit my surprise at learning that the source of the information in your advertisement had been "published materials currently disseminated by the American Cancer Society, Inc." Because of its strong opposition to smoking, A.C.S. materials on tobacco use would be expected to be one-sided. They should-not be regarded as primary scientific information which, for example, would be published in scientific and medical journals. I would not think that an insurance company would consider using such information in any of its customary, time-honored business procedures such as setting rates and premiums, and creating operational life-tables. Indeed, to do so would seriously lower actuarial mathematics from the high level of scientific repute it now enjoys. Finally, I will reiterate one point that I made in my letter to Mr. Lake. The Occidental Life advertisement strongly suggests that an individual may remove himself or herself from a relatively high-risk disease group merely by becoming a nonsmoker -- in other words that smoking is the cause of the disease in question. It should be emphasized that smoking has never been scientifically proven to be the cause of any disease, and many scientists have so stated. Thus, the advertisement TIMN 0063776

0624 CONFIDENTIAL: MIlVNESOTA TOBACCO LITIGATION ? Mr. Robert W. Graf Vi~l -1, ' ~ ~ ~T~%~/ Page Two , appears to oversimplify serious health questions and might mislead the public. With all good wishes, I am Slincerely yours, ! 1 Horace R. Kornegay President The Tobacco Institute TIMN 0063777