Tobacco Documents Online

1 i ~ FOR YOUR, iNF'CP~:ATION, A:MIi.AN CANCER SOCIETY HAS DISTRIBUTED THE FOLLOWING STATMH;NT FOR RELEASE AT 11: 3C Avi NCVFlAiBER 5, 1975 ,.ew York, NY--Dr. George P. ?tosemond, president of the American Cancer Society, today urged- a ban on all "high tar and nicotine cigarettes," and called for nationavide public support- for the government's suit against the six largest cigarette rranufacturers "for violating - an agreement to give adequate display to the health warning on cigarette-advertising_" In his presidential address at the annual meeting of-the American Cancer Society, Dr. Rosemond, professor of surgery at Temple University IMPdical School, Philadelphia, issued a challenge to "those newspapers and magazines who take cigarette 3dvertising for very understandable reasons." -Dr.-Rosemond asked whether their editors will-=show the courage and fortitude that has made the -free-press one of the proudest institutions of our country, and "give their editorial support to a request that the warning message in the cigarette ads should, at the very least, be as conspicuous as the message urging young and old to inhale carcinogens?n In July, the Federal Trade Commission asked the Justice Department to seek civil penalties against the-cigarette companies for viclating the 1972 order.-- The suit- was instituted in August, alleging that the health warnings were not.large or prominent enough. Following the 19i1 ban on TV and radio advertising of cigarettes, the cigarette companies switched more than $200 riilion to newspapers, magazir.es, billboards, posters and pro- motionai advertising signs. The ACS--leaders have charged that the cigarette companies - - - deliberately-underplayed the health warnings. Dr. Rosemond noted that Sweden has officially announced its commitment "to a smokeless society" and that England has banned any advertising which depicts smoking as being pleasurable in any way and that France is planning to do the same. The Society!s outgoin president also called Gs '-ion of federal tobacco subsi '~an`or verting e monety to anti-smoking advertising campaigns. Briefly surveying some of the progress made in cancer r~esearchs Dr. Rosemond cited: --Isolation of a virus from the laboratory grown cells of a patient with acute myelogenous leukemia, which may open doors to further advances in virology; --Development of preliminary evidence that immunotherapy may be of value in systemic treatment of patients -sdth melanoma; - - --A drug combination that has shown a promise of effectiveness in the treatment of advanced coion cancer; - -- - --The first evidence that some forms of advanced non-Hodgkins lysphorna car. for extended periods by chemotherapy; --Encouraging results with its L-PAM as siell as--three-drug combinations with advanced breast cancer; be controlled in patients --Anti-cancer drugs have dramatically improved survival of young patients with- - osteogenic sarcoma,- a tumor of the bone.- -

Describing some of the cancer control acti-vities of the Society,-Dr. Roserx~nd emphasizPd the "good results to date in our five-year campaigr to get every woman in Amer-ica_to have a Pap-test:" He said that- special efforts were being made to -reach rural comnunities as well as non-English speaking and low education groups.-- iie added .'`We kriow that through the Pap test, early stages of- cancer can be identified f ive to ten years hef ore any- s;,~ptoms appea_r.rr Dr. Rosemond said that-for the first time-in its history, it had gone over the= $100-million mark in the _ f iscal y ear ending Aug .- 3-1--the actual total of cru-sade_ and legacies came to more than $106 million. Dr. Rosemond ascribed the major acr.ievements of the Society during his presbdency to "the diligent work of- volunteers. "- - The Society reperts -that more- than two nullion volunteers participatea-in the ACS programs last year.