Tobacco Documents Online

- 1 - As for rotating and increasing the visibility of warning labels on cigarette packs. and in advertising, we think the time has long been ripe for that. We recortmend puttingthe warning message on the face-- not the side--of the package. The rotations would alert peopl:e constantly about the specific effects,of smokinq. Obviously, people need more specific i'nfonmation. We also support 1'1isting carbon monoxide content as well as tar and,nicoti'ne. Ih addition, we wouldilike to" see the additives in cigarettes listed. Dn & sarvey of readers of the American Lung Association's Bulletin a monthly magazine, we found our readers in favor of rotating labels. An especially popular one was:~ "WARNING: Cigarette smoking ils dangerous to health and'may cause death from cancer, coronary heart disease, pulmonary emphysema and other diseases."' Many favored it because ilt was the most comprehensive. Some felt it was not strongienough. It seems cl',ear that Congressional, leadership is required to help redress the massive imbalance of cigarette advertising that affects all areas of our society. H.R,.5653. represents the kind of national action desperately needed to begin to counteract the epidemic of smoking; related diseases im:thiis country and to encourage the 53 million , smokers to,fihd the way to~quit their liife-threatening habi;t. With new self-hel,p and group programs we developed in 1981, at the A'merican Lung Associati'on we are ready to hetp show those smokers how to quit successful,ly.. - In cooperation with the Office on Smoking and H'ealth, the National Interagency Council on Smoking andiHealth and the major voluntary organizations such as the Americam Cancer Society and'. the Ameriican Heart Associati!orn, we llook forward' to increasing our joint efforts to combat thils country's number-one preventable public health problem. The newly organized Coa1'ition an Smoking OR Health provides a unique mechanism for coordinating private sector smoking and health programs and establishing.an i'nterface withipubTiic sector programs. Than~k you for your attentilon. SOURCES 1. C. Everett Koop, M.D'., Surgeon General,, Release:: 2/22/82 2'. hew England Journal of Medicine, 2/11/82 p. t,j 3'. Staff Report on the..Ci'garette Advertising Investigation, N, FTC, 5/'81! W1 4. Staff Report on the,Cigarette Advertising Investigation, FTC, 5/81

The 'Christmas Seal'Pecple ~ ® Edmund C..Caaey. IWLD.. President Conrad M: Fowlbr, Areeident•Elect &ictlard Sins6cimer,. BasrvPrrrident Walter 1. }aamher„Vice-Prerident Edward M'..Sewe(1, NT.D.,,K'ice•Frerident Roslyn~Bilfurd Secretary Bernard G..Koplow, Treasurer James A,.Swomley;.8lanaging.Direcror 1740 B[oadwag • Nbw York, N.Y. 1DIQ19 •(212)245-800Q Statement of the American Lung Association to the Hbuse Subconmittee on Health and the Environment on H'.R.~ 5653, the Comprehensive Smoking Prevention Educatiom Act Presented by Stephen Ayres, M.D. " March 5, 11982' I am here to testify in support of HI•R• 5653 in'my capacity as a voliunteer board member of the American Lung Association and Chairman of that organ- ization's Conmittee on Smoking and H'eaPth,. In my professional life I am.Professor and.Cha'irmaniof the.Department of Medicine, St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missauri•, Although the majority'of Americans are aware that smoking is hazardous to heallth,, there is still confusion--even skepticism--about the facts.. Much of this confusion,is created and perpetrated--deliberately--by the tobacco industry, whose spokespeople constantly tour the country, seeking access to media.of alll kinds. What they perpetuate is the myth that there is a smokingi "controversy" about the health effects of smoking., that the link between cigarette snloking and disease is stat- istical and therefore suspect, even non-existent. The facts, of course, are quite otherwise. The link between smoking and disease is one of the most thoroughly documented in medical' history. I am introducing intoievi'dence--but will not read now--some of the recent fi'ndings.from laboratories around the world''confirm'ing the relationship between cigarette smoking and'human di'sease• Many different types of'studies.--30,000 in all and still accumulatingr- fiave been performed!: epidemiologic studies of death rates.; research on effects of stopping smoking; studies of tung function; and.examina- tiion of tissues at autopsy'i'n smokers and'nonsmokers. Im this country alone,. 340,00© peoole die,prematurely every year fr"omthe effects of aigarette smoking. ( 1.) At the American Lung Association we are constantly examining the on- going and new research' about the hazards of smoking--on both nansmokersQC and smokers. We are alarmed, for examplea.atout radioactive componentsw . of cigarette smbke and its effects on smokers themselves and others in M their vicinity. Alpha emriltters pol,oni'um-210 and tead-210 are highlly ~ concentrated on'tobacco trichomes and insolutile particles in.cigaretteL~ smoke. The major source ot the pol,onilum is ~?hosohate,fertil'i'zer, used N'- inigrowing ttGe tobacco. (IZ) 44" AMERI ~ LUNG A,SS'~CL4;TTt?N~ FamdN m 1900, Nthe Nmetitan LmsAmdamarluer.mllaatl a„um.tlona Uveuehwr..tne V'S., antl a m.Gleal xcnan. Ne Amencas IDarace 9ae(,q.

_-___.:.n:.._ _. -2- >Je are concerned that 15`: of the a'pha activi,ty of the cigarette smoke may enter the ambient air and is thus available for deposit ih the lungs of nearby nonsmokers. As a volunteer Chairman of the Smoking and Health Committee of the American Lung AsSociation, I', am distressed that 60s of Americans polled are unaware that smokimg causes most cases of bronchitis and emphysema,: for example, that 20" do not know that,smoking causes lung cancer, that over 50`: do not realize that smoking causes many as opposed to, only a:few cases of heart attack. (3) Clearly current federal, state, and private initiatives have been insufficient ini conveying the appropriate health messages to important segments of the American public. Hardas they may try, the voluntary agencies alone are fighting an uphill battle wIth limilted resources to fil~'1 this informationaT, gap. Some overriding officiaT, national actilon that would attract constant attention is requi;re.d. We believe the provi'sions of H.R.5633 are important steps to address this crisis. We favor the provisioms on providing statutory standing to the Office on Smok:ing, and Healthiwith the Department of Health and Human Services. There must be a clearly visible focus~within the federal' government which demonstrates the goverrment's commitment to prevention of disease due to smoking. We enddrse the requirement that the Office become more actively involved iln the preparation and dissemination of'educational and scientific information and we look forward to their acti.vel!y involving a wide range of federal and private organizations inithese activities.. At the ALA we rely strongly on the Office on Smok:ing.and Health:for fact-finding,and documentation. There is no question that the harm inflicted! by cigarettes i~s more than sufficient to,warrant banniing,production of thems However, in a free society,. government--i~nstead of prohilbiti"ng, producti'on--has: at least the responsibility of 1'etting its citizens know the consequences of exposure so they themselves can make informed choices. Because representatives of a multi-billion dollar industry are so hard at work promoting their self-serv'ng myths and,spending an astounding 51 biTlionleach:year to promote their lethal product in every media available to them,: the American Luhg Association believes very strongly that H.R., 5653 is critically important to:help~inform the pub1ikc about the real dana_ers--not the.tobacco industry's myths--of smoking. p, G3 What concerns us at the American Lung Association is the incredible ~ imbalance between the citizen's ex:posure to the facts about smoking ~ and the avalanche of cigarette advertising. We find it shocking that W ciaarettess are the most heavi'ly advertised product in'America„ that N ' cigarette ads~ comprise half'of al1 billboard, advertising, (4) We are N especially concerned that chi1 dren are not free to:make an informed, balanced choice about,smokiing when they grow, up in a society saturated witPo ads that encourage smoking and present that behavior as something healthy, attractive, sexy. The effects of advertising on chilldren are an overriding issue „ in our opinion.