Tobacco Documents Online

or---_4' Number 127 July 15, 19:75~ EncLosed with this newsletter is the'latest edition of "Some Facts About Tobacco."' The',information,consolidated into the folder should make it a helpful addition to'your files. Copies for your own distribution are',available by contacting TI. RffSEARCH nstiitulte Newsletter PREPARED'. !T' THE'~.. INSTITUTE SRAFF TO, INFORM'. THE~ INDUSTRY OF: . NEWSWORTHT~ DEYiELOPMENTS~ THIS SPRING Hinds and!First reported from Har- vard i!n the Now England Journal of Medicine that their actual air samples in cocktail lounges, buses and other places showed that smoke exposure'of nonsmokers was far less than claimed by anti-tobacco propagandists. Harvard,M;ed_ School's G_ary Huber, M,.D'.,~ hadicontributed~an editorial pointing out that the mea- sured exposure "has no known serious association with disease." To no one"s surprise, the journal promptl'~y got some sour grapes in the mail. It published several letters, with responses from Hinds, First and Huber. A Public Health Service d'octor said the measurements exceeded minimum air quaTity standards. Huber pointed out he was factually wrong,. The same doctor men- tioned'studi~es showing children of smokers have more res- piratory symptoms. Huber said careful reading of suchh studies shows that the authors themselves stressed they hadn't accounted for other potentially important variables.. AN ANN ARBOR DOCTOR said that despite the measurements, her "commonn sense"'told her they must be wrong. A,TOledo physician said welli, the smoke is still irritating, and a San Francisco man wrote',that even if there''s no health problem, nonsmokers "have the right tolattempt to legislate courtesy in smoking into law." In addition to:straighten- ing out some of the,correspondents on their "facts," Huber's response stated': e "Controversy continues to surround many issues reTated't'o smoking,. When OD s t

-2- scientific data on the effects of an agent on:hea3t'h are incomplete, as they are om the tobacco question, reactions in many people are derived' far too often from an emotional rather than an objective basis. I should'like to make a plea as a partisan for objective science. Ftmo- tiona3'arguments with a moral flavor, presented' without' scientificall'y, acceptable data,, have,, in,my judgment, no place in solving problems as serious as this one.. Zn other words, results or conclusions should'not be presented'or interpret'ed' wi'th,a preconceived bias of'the investigator or, for that matter, of the reader. Unfortunately, for reasons that I cannot fu1Ty understand, this course,has far too often been followed'in questions of tobacco and'heal'th. Rather, definitive answers shoul'd bee obtained by careful scientific endeavors designed to test in an:object- ive and'honest manner a clearly delineated hypothesis..."' •: "GruciaS heal'th issues can,be resolved'only by impeccable science, not by,overwrought emotional biases generated:by a small minority who appear to be psychogenically,affected,by tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoking is too prevalent' not to demand'such,scientific analyses to ascertain realisti'- ca1'Iy and to clarify precisely the health effects on both,the smoker and, the nonsmoker." PEOPLE KEEP SAYING that the study of all Briti~sh births in one week in. 19'58 proves that smoking in pregnancy harms the fetus:. Now comes the project's stati:stician, Harvey Gbldsteim, with some major disclaimers inih'orld HealthiStatiistical Report. He writes:, "We must,emphasize that these data are:observational. Association be- tween variabTes, whether over time or contemporaneously, does not imply causation." He: callls the findings "by no means conclusive."' Andias for the folilow-ups when the 1958' youngsters were 7 and Ll' years old, showing the children of smokers to be slightly shorter andiof lesser educational attainment, he says:' ""Had'we been able to measure other relevant factors and allow for themy, the differences may have been reduced'to negligible amount's.. They,are anyway sma31 differences..." A TEAM of physicians led by John Rankin, of the Univ. of Wisc, examined some 300 grain storage workers in the Duluth-Superior area and reported, that 37% of them with an average age under 40 have chronic bronchitis. Suspected, according to Rankin: Grain dust, pesticides, fungi or some other substance. IN!A REPIEW in Nature, Britiish researcher Peter Cole says carbonimonoxidie in the air i~s "mainly derived from the motor-car,"says it's "unlikely" that nonsmokers are endan- gerediby the levels they encounter, and suggests that the cost of requiri~ng,CO' controls on autos, in terms of higher car costs and fuel consumptioni, probably outweighs the doubtful benefits. RESEARCH TEAM', in Tampa VA hospital says cigarette smokers who switch to cigars may be jeopardizing their health as much as if they never quit cigarettes, reports the current issue of the Journal of'the Amer- ican Medical Association. The team, headed bg Dr. Allen GoTdman, said the exrc g rette smoker inhales inadvertently, resulting in blood car- bon monoxide levels equal to a cigarette smoker. ASSN. OF' RSERICAN PHYSICIANS has publilshed a paper given by 1

-3- .Feinstein and Wells last year which stated that physicianss give smoking patients closer scrutiny than nonsmokers and that this leads to a"detection bias." The researchers said, "Cigarette smoking, may contribute more to the diagnosis of 1ungg cancer than it does to producing the disease itself." MARIJU'ANA USE'STUDY in Jamaica failed to confirm any adverse effects other than &slightly hi.gher incidence of reduced delivery of oxygen (hypoxia)! to tissues by the bloodstreams of smokers, according to:re- port published in the New York Times. The study, made for the federal Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse, did state a suspicion that this may result from the,use of tobacco which is customarily mixed with marijuana by Jamaicans. The Times allso added that a separate report made by the Drug Abuse Council, an independent, Washington-based organ- izationy, stated', "Large-scale epidemiological investigations similar to those which established'associations between smoking cigarettes and' - health hazards will be required to identify certain health,consequences qf chronic,marijuana use." MORE DATA ON',LiTNG':CANCER in Los Angeles neighborhoods:: Henderson and associates at iDSC:write in the American Journal of Epidemiology that excessive rates in the south part of the city "could be due to a re- .giional excess of carcinogenic air pollution." IN NEW ANTI-SMOKING CAMPAIGN Great Britain:'s Health Education Council is publishing govt. "tar"'and nicotine tables in adertisements saying: "Last year alone cigarettes k'i1led'at least 50'y000 smokers. But scme cigarettes ki11 you quicker th'an others." HEC generall director, Alastair M'ackie,, discussed the effort on BBC radio:. He explainedi„ "We're being a little more accurate and truthful which we altvays strive to be. This time the question we ask is which cig- arettes kill you the quickest?" ~~ FOR'EIGN HEC"s first ads illustrate cigarette packs in various "tar" groups and' the copy includes:: "UntiT the cigarette manufacturers print this information on their packs,, keep this Health Education,Coun- ci1 advertisement, or pick up the Government tables from your tobac- conist or post' office." MEANWHILE the House of LordLs openedidebate on cigarette advertisilngi and promotion. Baroness White, according to Advertising Age, said all efforts:that encourage smoking should be banned and the govt. shouldd insist on a much stronger warning notice. She added,, "I realize that even if one banned adbertising completely, cigarette consumption would' probably not drop by more than 20%; but at least it would help a new generation not to start smoking." Arguing in support of Ms. White, Lord Pitt declared that "if the tobacco industry is not willing to cooperate, the governmentt must be prepared to legislate..." Pitt m inimized attempts to re- dUce nicotine content in cigarettes stating it would "'merely, mean that more cigarettes would,be smoked.,It's like trying to make a whiskey without alcohol."

-4- A BANQN ALL TOBACCO advertisements iin Norway came into force July 1, notes the London,Dai1~y Telegraph. No tobacco products may be used' inn shop-window displays. WASHINGTON ACTION ON SMOKING & HEALTH, (Banzhaf)filed a re- quest with, the Interstate Commerce Commissionn to tighten up several aspects of smoking bans and' segregation and their enforcement on interstate passenger trains., He suggested nonsmokers' lives are imperiled the way things are. ICC is his third target in, current regulatory pursuits before federal agenci,es--he's pushing Fed- eral Trade Commission for tighter cigarette ad regulation and Occupa- tional Safety & HeaLth Administration toicut smoking in work places in order to reduce carbon monoxide l'evel's., TI HAS LEARNED that the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has voted'not to appeal the U!.S. District Court order (News- letter 125) to take up:the Moss petition to require the com- mission to~regulate "tar"-nicotine yield., NATIONAL CENTER FOR'HEALTH STATISTICS has published'its annual summary of the nation"s,vital statistics and a New York Times editorial ob- serves that in 1974 the population of the U.S. was healthier--at least as indicated by figures on Life and'd'eath--than ever before in history.. DATA PRESENTED BY Dr. Rauscher, National Cancer Institute director, to House appropriations subcommittee hearings on HEW appropriations just don't addlup!~ Rauscher used Nat- ionali Clearinghouse for Smoking and' Healthistatistics on teenage smokers, broken down into male and'female percent- ages. These were added together,ratther than averaged, creatingia false impression that almost a third of all teen- agers smoke., IT"S OFFICI!AL:! President Ford acceptedlthe resignation of Casper Wein- berger as Secretary of Health, Ed:ucation and Welfare a:nd'announced the nomination of David M'athews, president of the University of Aliabama, toisucceed him. A,Wall Street Journal article quoted a source as.say- ing of the 39-year-old Mathews, "He's a good administrator, works wel'1 with legislative bodies and is a good'organizationiman." NORRI'S COTTON, former U.S. Senator from N.,H.,, resigned his 4 position on the National Cancer Advisory Boardl (Newsletter 114)',. His term was to~have lasted,unti~l 1978. STILL PENDIiNG before both houses of'Congress are the bills clarifying tobacco's exemption in the Consumer Product Safety Act. ~ NONSMOKER ISSUE ILLI~NOIS Pollution Control Board'votied 4!to 0 that it does not have jurisdiction to regulate C air pollution inside buildings as it had been petitioned'to do last ~. October by the Environmental'Lawyers Clinic. They wanted the board to C11 prohibit smoking in public places except in designated' areas. ~-A

-5- MICHIGAN HOUSE passed a bill to forbid smoking in all retail food stores in the state. The bill is pending before a Sen- ate committee. IN CHICAGO a Public Safety Court has been opened to deal with violations of city ordinances such as smoking in ei~evato:rs,, stores, public trans- portation and other prohibited public p3iaces. A columnist for the Chi~cago~ Sun-4'imes calls it "Smoking Court.," VOLUNfiARY:SEGREGATION of smokers and nonsmokers inithe aud- ience gallery is being tried by the Cincinnati City Council. FOND DUiLAC County (Wisc.) Boardlof Supervisors voted down attempt to ban smokingifrom county meeting rooms and rejected an amendment to ex- pand resolution to all county buildings at all times. A~PROPOSAL to expand the San,Di..ego no-smoking ordinance (Newsletter 114) to restaunants was killed by a City Coun- cil committee for at least six, months., COMMITTEE OF WINDSOR (COnni.) Town Counci~l held hearings on proposed legislation to restrict smoking areas in the town as welli as:banning some cigarette sales. The Hartford'Times said most attending the public hearings felt that town legislation was not the answer to the smoking problem. THEY'RE CATCHING ON! The findings of Drs. Hinds and First (Newsletter 121) were applied to a commentary on the no- smoking ordinance adopted in Boulder, Colo. (Newsletter 120). An editorial in the Boulder Camera states, "Certainly, it is wrong,for some:peopl'e to imperiI' the health of others., But ap- parently the health;hazard'in smoke-fiTled rooms was 1'argei'y an assump- tion." The editorial notes the conclusions of the research- ers andisaid, "That tends to destrog,a prominent argument used during the campaign for the...ordinance." THINGS YOU NEED1TO KNOW, says Amtrak onia timetable, about traveling by train', include: "Smoking;Amtrak wants to make your trip a pleasant one. Be- cause we are concerned about your traveling comfort--and'in view of the increased' public awareness of smoking and'the strong views,held by our passengers--we have designated' certain NO SMOKING areas." MEDIA "TOBACCO BLINDNESS,"'reportedia popular mag- azine, "is becoming a common affliction." Several smokers were the condition which w smaking~is to a large ext reported'under treatment at aiLondon hospital for as said to~ begin withicolor blindness., "Although: ent the cause of' the malady, heavy drinking is also par- C tially responsible," the report said., It appeared'in Godey's Ladies Book . i Q in August, 1886. BAD TIMES'incre ase miscarriages, stillbirths and deaths off r CJT ~ : lessrth,an,one-d: ay-old'babies, states the July McCall's, say- . ing "one possible ,reason is that pregnant women under severe economic ~ ~ stress may not rec eive adequate prenatal care and'may...smoke or drinkk ~ more to deal with their tensions--all of which can be dangerous for the unborn chi3d'."'

-6- _ "ANOTH$R VIEW" COLUMN of Advertising Agefeatured Dr. Morris Chafetz, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcohollism, who made the observation that ".,..while advertising is a persuasive and,highZy ef- fective mechanism in our culture, it does not, for the most part, cause people to engage in drinking alcoholic beverages where there is no desire. But advertising can be effective in causing those who are already drink'ing to switch brands." (Would he say, the same about tobacco adLs2) INDUSTRY 3M COMPANY took an ad in the:Wa111 Street Journal to offer to share details of'its emplioyee al- coholism counseling program with other employers. "According to na- tional statistics," it saiid, "one out of every twenty employees has a drinking probZem:,..A problem big enough to cost American industry an estimated'$1Q billion a year.:" "0UI'T" CA111PAIGNS' "I KICKED THE HABIT" smok,ing clinic promo fol'd- er, states: "It has become apparent to corporations in tHe past few years that smoking related medical'problems are a major cause of' early>j premature employee retirements and death."' ~EALTH ORGANIZATIONS AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION turned'down a re- solution at its~meeting last month calling for an end to tobacco "subsidies."' It was proposed by the Idaho delegation. Instead, AMA reaffirmed previous positions taken with respect to~to- bacco. PEOPLE J.H'. BURN, an:Ox,ford doctor, has had much to: say about smoking and health over the years. He submitted a statement toiCongress in,1969 expressing doubts that nicotine is harmful or that smoking causes lung cancer. But last month, in a letter iniNew Scientist, Burn suggested that smoking may cause baldness., Nicotine, he ventured, constricts bloodivessels in the scalp and hair follicles may be destroyed as a result. DR. CARL SELTZER toTd!the tenth International Congress on Gerontology, according to Reuters dispatches from Jerusalem, that the elderly do not need to worry so much about smoking because those who continue to smoke do not appear to incur greater risks:than those who quit. TAXES HEADLINE in the Maine Sunday Telegram said it best: "Pressure Off Move To Hike 'Sini' Tax." This, of course, was in reference to alcohol and cigarette tax in- creases which hadibeen considered by the legislature to increase state revenues. ###I