Tobacco Documents Online

CREIPARED',FORrOUR INFORMATION BY THE INSTITUTE',S'TAFF7778K STREET, N.W„ WASHJNOTON, D.C. 20006 • 3816+.M34 Number 118 Marchi11„ 1975 NONSMOKER ISSUE GEORGIA, a state whichigrew about $100 million worth,of tobacco: last year, outlawed' smoking in, any public'area--indoors or outdoors--where anyone might put up a no smoking sign. Penalty'for violation of the new'criminal law can be a fine of $10 to $100. , Gbv., Busbee signed the law promptly after lopsided votes in both houses of the legislature. NEW YORK TIMES reported 74 persons arrested so far in the city:for violation of'the no-smoke regulation adopted late last year. Thi~rty-two have paid fines ranging from $5'to $25 and warrants have been issued for 25 who failed to show up for trials. TWO NORTH DAROTA, legislators put in a bill to confine smoking to desig',- nated areas,within publicly-owned buildings. A GASP spokesman, who had urged the action, said he wanted many places visited by the public to' be specified,inithe bill, but had been told by one of the legislators that "the'theory zs,, make it general.. Once you get' the philosophy through, you cmi always add' om later: " WASHINGTON STATE HOUSE banned smoking in most committee sessions, subject to waiver by chairmen~. MINNESOTA BOARD OF HEALTH prohibitedlsmokinglin any of its meeting rooms throughout the state. COUNTY'BOARD for the Milwaukee area defeated, 12-11, a move to ban smoking at meetings. "Tbe'issue turned out to be one of personal liberty," said the Milwaukee Journal.. Several of the nonsmokers helpedil'.ead the',fight against the ordinancP. ANAHEIM, ciity',council refused to pass a motion to back a no-smoking bill pending in the California,Assembly. A FIRSTT The South:Bend'Tribu:ne reported passage'by the IndiianaiHouse of a limited' public smoking ban,billi (pending

in the Senate)', noting that three physiciammembers had as- serted health dangers for nonsmokers. One is Anthony Pizzo, a Bloomington Democrat., The story saidi that "Dr. Pizzo, a pathologist, cited'a case in which a woman who had never smoked died from apparentZy-smoke-caused l'ung cancer after years of association raith,a husband who chain smoked:"' Indianapolis: News quoted Pizzo as saying "we now have statistics that the rate of cancer of nonsmokers in our environment is higher where there is a high concen~ra- tion of cigarette smoke." A MASSACHUSETTS legislative committee reported favorably a bill to ban smoking duri!ngiany meetingFs of any govt. bodies at any leveli throughout the state., ..Las Vegas Review- Journal came out against a smoke-ban bill in Nevadaio'n: the ground it wpuldidiscouragetourism.: .: .:Federal JudgieMerhigein Richmond agreed to hear argument on a mail carrier's suit to ban smoking in,the post office in which he works. He claims it imperils his health. ..Montclair, Ca1if., city council relegated smokers to the back three rows in its meeting chamber., ..Kansas Senate voted 23-16 for a bill pending in the House which would ban smoking in many:public buildings andiretail stores,,and also prohibited smoking in its own chamber. ..Minneapolis city council banned smoking in all public govt, meetings in the city. :COLUMNIST BRUCE WILKINSON in the Denver Post summed'up his view of the nonsmoker question:: "Smokers practically to a: man, woman and child have exer- eised'great forbearance:up until now in abi.ding the:peevish, frequently,spiteful ma- neuvers by the antismokers against public indul'gence of this:old American custom. But it stands to reason this patient acceptance of abuse from the shriZl foes of all manner of'lighted tobacco can't be expected,to go on indefinitely." or adjudicative proceedings:, . ."' FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION told Congress oncee again in its annual report that cigarette ad- vertising is terrible. With two of its five members dissenting, FTCC repeated' earlier recommendations (and made no new ones) that a health, warning shouldibe required on little cigar packs; the warning should be changed to specify aiLments assertedly caused by smoking,;, cigarette packs should specify "tar"-ni'cotine yieIds;; HEW should buy time and space to discourage smokiingi; and government fundiing,for development of "a cigarette not hazardous"' should continue. ON HEW'S BUYING ADS, Commissioner Thompson said "it is not the job of'the government t'o try to provide t public with the will to act. . ." Commissioner Nye wanted'stronger recommendations and "an accountting,. ..as to whether we intend to reopen the orders presently regulating tobacco advertising or to initiate new ruZemaking WASHINGTON OTHERWISE, FTC complained that "t"^n yieldis:and warnings in advertisiingi have "produced no immediate decrease in the consumption of cigarettes." It com- plai~ned of, "t'h'emes corrcnonZ'y found in,cigarette advertisements: AppeaZs to aati's- fying taste; association of the advertised brand'cri:th desirable personaZity, charae- teristics; and reZ'iev7:ng,anxieties about the risks to health posed by cigarette smoking,."

FTC added that "in general',, ,,,smoking is strongly associated:((a:n ads))'with people,who appear to be young, attractive, active and'heaZthy, ..,.Depicting smokers in such pure and heaZthfuZ settings ((outdoors)) has a tendency t'o assure the consumer that smoking; the advertised brand' is aZso pure and heaZthfuZ.,., .It'.can be argued that an attempt to miti- gate smokers" fears of. ., .diseases associated wi'th smoking is cont'in- uously being,made by advertisers of lowered 'tar''and nicotine cigarett'es." THE COMMISSION MADE NO MENTION of an investigati!on~a:nnounced last spring as:to whether health warnings are appearing in cigarette ads in accord- ance with,its 1972 order. SENATE CONSUMER SUBCOMMITTEE, which has kept its legislative eye on the smoking-health controversy in recent years, or- ganized for the new Congress. New members:: Ford' (D:-Ky.):,, Weicker (12-Conn.)',. Holdovers: Moss (D-Utah) (chairman), Democrats Hart (Mich,.),, Pastore Hartke (Ind.),, Inouye (Hawaii), Cannon (Nevj,: Tunney (Calif.) and Stevenson (Iill.); Conseryative Buckley (N.Y.,): and Republican Beall (Md.). Departures were Cook (R-Ky.), defeated, and Pearson (R-Kans.) and Stevens (R-Alaska), transferred to other com- mittees. SEN. MOSS (D-Utah) told the Senate that "many" continue to argue that there's "no proof" of ill effects of tobacco., So he thought they were entitled to have it, and inserted it in the Congressional Record, in the form of aniarticle from,the Reader's Digest. ON ANOTHER DAY, Moss put five pages of antismoking reports and speeches i!n the Record, saying the "problem" of smoking is "as serious as ever" andi criti~ciziingi "tobacco subsidy programs and un.reasonably low taxes on cigarettes. "' He saidl "within the next few months I intend'to introduce a legislative package designed to treat these veumious matt'ers.," TOBACCO COMPANIES AND THE GOVERNMENT joined in arguing before U.,S. Dis- trict Court Judge Gasch that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has no authority:to regulate cigarettes. The case was brought by:Sen. Moss (D-Utah) and the American Publilc Health Assn.,, arguedifor them by Victor Kramer of the Institute for Public Interest Representation. Best guess on a decision.: at least a,month,away. UPDATE ON THE NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE for Smoking!and Health:~ Daniel Horn remains its director, a spokesman says, but is on a one-year leave to work with the World Health Organization. Acting director is Charles Althafer, recently of San:D'iego, who administered'nearly ,2' mililion in federal funds in ann eight-year effort to get that city tolquit smoking. Althafer,, a psychologist, toTdl the San Diego Unioniin 1969 that "the phase of scientifically proving the adverse ef ects of cigarette smoking on health now is fairly well past." TOBACCO WORKING GROUP met at the National Cancer I~nstitute and was in- troduced to its new chairman, Fred Bock, of Roswell Park,Memorial Insti- tute. NCII staff member Gbri gave up the chair in:accord with a govt, policy that outsiders:should1head government advisory bodies.

-4- Bock, an early mouse back painter, has published,much in- formation on carcinogens imlaboratory-made "tar," and' has ready statistics to support his view that cigarettes are. "kiZ'Zers :!' In, a' 6'7 speech he said that "America loses 77 million work,days every year because of smoking; and one-third of Amer- ean men between the ages of 35 and 60 today will die earZy--because they smok'e." REP. DRINAN'S BILL (Newsletter 115) that,would increase the cigarette tax by 1C, a pack has been twice reintroduced with,a total of'2$'co- sponsors. The additional revenue would be appropriatedito the National Heart and Lung Institute. NOW REP. KOCH, (D-N.Y.), together with,30 of h:isicolleagues, including some of Drinan's supporters, has introduced a billi to increase the tax 2C a pack and give the new revenues too the National Cancer Institute., RESEARCH "WARNING," says the lead'ion an AMA news release, "Your heating unit„ humidifier or air conditioner may be dangerous to your health." The handout went on to summarize a JAMA article asserting that "a serilous~lung disorder"'can result from spores which grow within such equipment. Oddly, the release suggested that physi- cians shou:Tdl consider this cause only "in patients with persistent lung prob- Lems for which no other cause can be found." U. OF Chicago SCIENTISTS told an International Academy of Pathology meeting they've found,h:igh asbestos fiber counts in a number of lung cancer autopsy samples where the patients had no known asbestos ex:posure,, and from what they know of'f smoking histories they conclud'ed "that smoking i's not' the majar factor. ° And' a Mt. Sinai School of: Medicine researcher re- port findings to the American Cbllege of Chest Physi!cians that the cancer risk for asbestos workers is even greaterr than anticipated' and that their family members have a high level of abnormal chest X-ray readings. TULANE researchers studied lung functions in 859 work,ers in asbestos cement manufacturing plants, concludingi that, -Ot'h'e effect of exposure to as- bestos is not influenced appreciabl'y by smoking habits and that there is no synergism between smoking and'asbestos dust as regards an effect on,puZmonary function in this popul'ation." LAST SEPTEMBER, Paul Kotin, former government environmen- taliist andinow a vice president of'asbestos producer Johns- Manville Corp. , sai~d in a speech that his industry "should'' not hire workers who smoke any more than a'person with poZio would be hired to paint the Golden Gate Bridge.'" He was quoted in Occupational Safety & Health Reporter. ARONOW, a California cardiologist, told the San Diego Union~that his study of over, 2,000 persons~showedithey don't take better care of them- selves when they're told they have heart disease "risk'factors."'He said American Heart Assn. programs to reduce risk factors are a flop. He called for something dramatic on a, national scale,, "for excunpZe, removing, the government subsidy of tobacco to make the price of cigarettes go sky,high so fewer people would buy, them," c=

-5- A,LETTER WRIiTER from the Institute for Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences in New York told the editor of Science magazine that his own research,experience makes him believe phony research reports: may be "the rule, not the esceptiom. "' He said "the proliferation of faZse (rather than falsif,iable) hypotheses may also be: a sinister sympt'om of the heightened stakes for scientifie success in research areas, such as cancer or immunology,, in,which public expectations have been grossly inflated:"' DOCTOR, a British magazine, reviewed results to date of large, U.S, gov- ernment-financed' population studies oflheart disease in Framingham, Hon- olulu and Puerto Rico., "Heart Study Upsets the Apple Cart," was the title of the article which,pointed out, among other things, that in Puerto Rico cigarette smoking seems unrelated to heart dilsease. MEDtA EDITOR & PUBLISHER reported results released by two Soutih Carolina marketingiprofessors of a 19:73 po11 of'1,7'7'8 legislators in ten states on various business issues. There were 576 responses., Among other things, 52,percent agreed that cigarette advertising shoulld be banned., On the other hand, a majority believed the post-broadcast shift to other media was acceptable and eth- ical. CORDAY, a UCLA heart expert and member of the National Heart & Lung Ad{visory Board until he was dropped in "73', wrote in an,American Journal of'Cardiol editorial that "tobacco has been strongly incriminated as a risk factor, but no direct proof hass been provided to show that cigarettes are:atherogenic.° MEDICAL TRIBUNE reported'a decrease in lung cancer deaths~in 55- to 65- year-olds following a,decl'ine in the "tar" content of cigarettes in Australia. A TROSt',, OHIO,, NEWS columnist wrote that Americans may have become "paranoidiabout cancer" because so many things are "linked" with the, disease. He wrote that "as a, matter of,' fact, no proof'has ever been presented that that old bugaboo,, cigarette smoking,, actually causes cancer." ROBERT K. KERLAN, M.D.,, "the sports doctor"' columnist in the Ch,icago News, wrote!: "The smoking,athlete may, injure the other members of his temn, Non- smokzng teammat'es are harmed in, the same way as the smoker just by being in, his pres- ence. " IF THERE'S AN UNUSUAL NUM'BER of'barefooted ladies in~Lima, Ohio, these days, it''s because they took the advice of an. I'tali~an~ doctor quoted in an editorial in~ the locali News: "Walk ba.refoot' around'the house for a minute, then lie down and ask a friend to book at the soles of your feet. If there are white patches, go straight to a doctor., Th'ey show that you are suffering from narrow- ing,of the arteries caused by nicotine." DESPITE RISING NEWSPRINT prices, the nation's press collectively d:evotedi a lot of space to: the letter from "'Al's wife" to "Dear Abby." Seems that A1"s doctor made him quit his asserted'30-year, four-pack-a,day smoking, and h,isi"'fooling around with young girls."' Al told his wife he could do either but not both. Abby told her "Al certainly is aa shrewd trader,"'and "you'd' probably worry less if you saw Al smoking."

-6- FORE IGN BRITAIN'S ASHitold,a Royal,Commission on Civil Liability andiCompensation:for Personal Injury that ci~garette,mfrs. should be made liable for:asserted injury from their products. In the:alternative,, ASH said, there should be:a three- penny levy on cigarette,packs to builTd'a fund at the rate of 210 million pounds a year from which to compensate smokers or their survivors. HEADS OF FIVE MEDICAL SOCIETIES in,U.K_ wrote the London Times, urging a substantial cigarette tax increase to help finance the:Nationali Health Service and discourage smoki~ng, "QUI'T" CAMPAIGNS' A HUNDRED PERSONS'reportedly entered a California hospital to undergo the Adventists'""Five Day Plan to Stop Smoking," were giiven access to steam and'sauna baths,, among other things, "to make things easier." Meanwhile,, an Australian research er announced findings, according to UPIi, that saunas could lead to a ser- .ious health hazard--"pl.:acing, a dangerous burden. ..on cardiovascular systems." AND A SEATTLE PAPER reported that a customer of the local Schick Center for the Control of Smoking sued Schick to get his fee back plus $3,000 damages. He: claimed Schick ads were misleadingi and the course didn't work for him., IINDUSTRY TI PRESIDENT KORNEGAY, in a speech to the annual meeting of Tobacco A,ssociates: "it seems incredible that many politicians who supported and fought for civil rights, who advocated tear- ing, down the old barriers:that divi:ded our people on the basis of race,, color or creed;, are now wi!Zling to erect new barriers that divide our people into opposing camps:on the basis of'smoking or nonsmoking:" AP,picked' up the qu:ot e. TOBACCO INSTITUTE released survey results on ciigarette.adver- tising: Spending last year was $252.,6 million, compared with, $314.7'milliion in 1970, the,last year of broadcast commercials. Three-fourths of it advertised brands yielding average or below-average "tar," and the cost was less than $.009 per pack. NEW'PUBLICATIANS'DIRECTOR at Tobacco Institute (and editor of the News- letter) is George Yenowine, former Capitol Hill aide and ad agency ac- count and production man., He succeeds Albert Barr,, who has become PR director for National Association of Public Uiti~Tity Regulatory Commis- ioners in Wa~shington.: PEOPLE NEWSDAY reported' that Morris Weintraub quit his 17-year, $45,000 post as director of the Whole- sale Tobacco Distributors of New York because "the industry, the legitimate industry,, is disintegrating; falling apart.. The underworld is moving in, infiltrating, and' nobody, in Albany, except a select few„ reall'g give a darrn. I don't intend~ to stay around for the funeral." AP REPORTED:from Baton Rouge that Fed:eral District Judge: C, W 7~ West dismissed a suit by prisoners who claimed they"d W been denied1ciga rettes and that this,constituted'cruel ~ and unusual puni shment. The story quoted the judge as saying the case was frivolous.: He add'edi: ~ ~

-7- "If'indeed these pZaintiffs. ., .crre thus being forced t'o smoke Z'ess,,, they,are not being punished,, but instead are being rehab'ilitated. They,shou2.d be singing the praises of the penitentiary officiaLs for assisting them in kicking the dangerous,, cancer-causing habit of' smoki;ng. " A MINNEAPOLIS RESTAURATEUR told the Mp1's. Tribune he has copied the At- lanta restaurant procedure which had been,publicized in aitrade maga- zine, and upped the cigarette:pack price in the vending machine on,h:is premises to $D, gaving 50 cents per pack to the American Cancer Society. He said the weekly gross from the machine is down fromi$6a1or $,70 to only $20, but doesn't regret it. Meanwhile, the owner of the Coach House restaurant in Lex- i~ngton, Ky., reportedly gave the American Cancer Society $'50q1in proceeds from h:is:machine,, having placed'a sign ex- plaining his intent on top of it. TAXES cent of the whole A NEW BILL in Oregon would'raise the cigarette tax:50 percent, earmarking nine-cent ten per- tax proceeds to cancer research., HEALTH ORGAN I ZAT I OtYS AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY helped put on a breast cancer seminar for suburban Washingtonihigh school giirls. Trouble with it,was that the literature given them con- sisted of two pamphlets on the asseriied' dangers of smoking an&one,onn oral': cancer., * * * LATE NEWS:: Arthur A. Stein,,, a distinguiished New York pathologist, told the New York legislature on behalf of The Tobacco Institute that it's "ludicrous" to assume that experimental results in smoke-fill!ed environ- ments necessarily apply elsewhere, that studies to date "do not allow us the comfort of conviction iniany conclusion worthy of legilslative, action,," and that "reasonableness and courtesy" while research pro- gresses are the best,current solution to the nonsmoker question. ~ W,