Tobacco Documents Online

This 55-page document produced by the Tobacco Institute is an artfully written misleading Q&A exercise about smoking and health issues primarily dealing with women.

The document poses commonly-asked questions about effects of smoking on women, and provides classic, highly-detailed tobacco industry "answers" to these questions, to wit:

"Q. Do women who smoke while they're pregnant have smaller babies?

A. Yes, their babies usually weigh less than the babies of mothers who don't smoke...The critical issue is whether smoking causes a reduction in birth weight (the causal hypothesis) or whether smokers are a self-selected group that differs from nonsmokers in ways unrelated to smoking, includlng the production of lower weight babies (the self-selectlon hypothesis)...

Q. Are lung cancer death rates rising more rapidly in women than in men, and is this because more women are said to be smoking?

A. Lung cancer death rates reported for U.S. women have been rising faster year to year than those in men since 1961...Some scientists believe that the recent rise in lung cancer in women is more apparent than real, because physicians order diagnostic tests more frequently now for women patients they know to be smokers. Therefore, they diagnose more lung cancer where it might not have been found in earlier years...

Q. Is it true that smoking mothers can harm their babies after birth -- that children of women who smoke suffer more respiratory illnesses, especially bronchitis and pneumonia?

A. This is a frequent emotlon-laden clalm against cigarettes. Children have more respiratory infections as a whole than adults. They are thought to be more susceptible to airborne germs, smog and other environmental effects...More recently, a four-year study of 5700 youngsters in England and Scotland identified a so-called "cooking effect"...Boys and girls from homes in which gas was used for cooking had more coughs, "colds going into the chest" and bronchitis than children whose homes had electric stoves. The researchers concluded that products of fuel combustion might be the cause of the increased respiratory illness. It is dlfflcult to understand why parental smoking is blamed for a child's coughs or wheezes in view of these confllcts in research findings...

This twisted 1997 memo by Seth Moskowitz of R.J. Reynolds' (RJR) Public Relations department recounts a brainstorming session held to address problems facing the industry at the time, particularly a lack of credibility and an onslaught of lawsuits being filed against the industry by state Attorneys General seeking to recoup the costs of treating sick smokers.

The memo starts out by discussing the need to "humanize" the tobacco industry by putting kind and helpful face on the company (RJR). Moskowitz complains that the public perceives the industry to be "a group of two-faced, conscience-less killers who trade lives for dollars. Nothing could be further from the truth," he says, "but the public doesn't know this."

The discussion quickly turns to ideas for turning public opinion against the AG's lawsuits. One plan was to instigate a wave of frivolous, ridiculous lawsuits against a number of other industries. For example, Moskowitz proposes using a study to "indicate that drinking citrus juice carries an increased risk of lung cancer." He muses,

"What if we worked with the state AGs or legislators in some tobacco states (NC, VA), and with a business or citizens group in Florida to sue the citrus producers in Florida and California for reimbursement of state medical expenses paid to treat illnesses 'caused' by the consumption of citrus products? Under current Florida law, this could be done entirely using a statistical model. All we need to do is plug in a few statistics and suddenly we can calculate the dollar amount Florida has paid out in medical expenses to treat orange juice-related cancers. Could also mount a highly emotional PR campaign against citrus growers for harming children (stunting their growth). We could choose other states and industries and do the same thing (Minnesota and dairy products? California and wine consumption? Beef and any number of states.) A series of Medicaid reimbursement-type suits simultaneously launched against a number of industries in a number of states would get major coverage and drive home how ridiculous the recent AG attacks on the tobacco industry are."

Immediately following this self-serving idea to cause havoc in other industries, the memo flips back to seeking ways to "humanize" the industry. One idea was to use an ad campaign to highlight the good works RJR employees do in their private lives, like helping school children and carrying the torch for the Olympics.