Tobacco Documents Online

I+REPAREp FORYOUR'INFORMATION I6Y THE. INSTITUTE SRAFF, ~~ 7776 K STREET,' N.Mf:, WASHINGTON, D:C. 20006'. •~ 296-4434~! Number 111 November 25, 197'4 NATIiONAL CANCER ADVIISOR'Y BOARD overrode some members'I objections andlfinished up what the New York Times called "partly a response" to President Fordi's requestt to back up scientifically its call for regulation of "tar" yields in cigarettes.. The'Times noted that Ford's reception of the NCAB recommen- dation had been "cooli."' WASMINGTON The' Board's document contains simple assertions of dose- response illnesses, lowering of risks by smoking cessation, toxicity of "tar and:nicotine and probably carbon monoxide, nitrogen,oxides and hydrogen cyanide," and the sales-weighted reduction of'marketed cigarettes in recent years which "'in- dicates that the consumer can be accustomed to the use of+' milder cigarettes." Attachediis a simple liist,of selectedi statistical studies. The Board also modified its request to cover four points:: • Empower a govt. agency to set maximum "tar"-nicotinee yi~eTds which woul& "slowiy°" descend' from the 1973 sales- weighted average, which the Board said was 19.2' and 1.3' mg,re:spectivelyg r That agency should get advice from the National Heart and Lung Institute. • Un:til~ enactment of such,a law; the President should "con- sider making a public personall appeal" for modification of cigarettes. • The: public shouldibe toldlthere's no "guarantee" of better health from smoking low-yield cigarettes. A NEW'NCAB MEMBER, Baker of Bell Telephone Laboratories, rai~sed the: sharpest reservation during the NCAB meeting:: "We have reflected' the convictions of scientists in this document, but not necessarily the scientific evidence. ..We cannot support, that is,, some of us cannot

-2- support, a categorical statement of this sort entific evidence:." on~the basis of sci- DURING DEBATE, the Board,deleted!two:significant passages from a staff draft of its statement--one which said there"s no scientific evidence to support a specific maximum yield level, and another that indicated that occupations, diets,, genetics and'pollution also need'attention. NCPiB.Chai~rman Rhoads planned to send the Board's dbcument to the President by the end of the month., COUNSEL for major tobacco companies reported that Distri~ct Court Judge Gasch (Newsletter 1I10): denied their motionito dismiss Sen. rilbss' lawsuitt to overturn the Consumer Product Safety Commission ruling against his "tar"'-nicotine regul'atory petition after listening to argument from both sides on Nov. 14. 11 RESEARCH f LITTLE NEW about smoking andl healith, came from I over 2,100 papers given to about 6,000 persons attending the International Cancer Congress in Florence last month. Some observations: • Daniel Horn reported that stopping-smoking and switching,to lower-yield cigarettes is~particularly evident among U.S. upper class males. • Cuyler Hammond said very few cancers are caused by just one factor, and lung cancer may be one,exception. • Gio: Gori hoped the tobacco:industry will make a great effort to seTl,low-yield cigarettes--preferable to gov- ernment control. • W. Dontenwil'l suggested that less condensate but hi9h,car- bon,monoxide in,cigarette smoke might increase ca:rdio- vasc lar damage. r Ernest Wynder predicted female lung cancer rates neverr will equal male rates because women started smoking later andiwith filter:cigarettes. • L. Garfinkel said the most important point inithe A'CS' reprise of its "YniTlion-persons"'study will be to see whether death rates are lower among persons who have switched to low-yield cigarettes. He also:said the 8th, International Classification of Diseases adopted in '68 caused an artificial jump in Ui.S., 1iung cancer death sta- tilstics.. • N. Kraus of Germany reported that the greatest concen- tiratio of lung cancer occur in northern European areas where virus-carrying birds end their migrations. • Cecile:Leuchtenbergis:aid the gas phase of cigarette smoke may contribute to malignancies, an&that lowering "tar"' isn,"t a:guarantee of safety.

_3_ • J. Kmet of France,decliared' that alcohol and tobacco aren''t enough to expiiain sex and'geographic differences in eso- phageal cancer rates. ~ Hkama of Japan reported over 21,000 deaths in his con- tinuing 265,000-person study, said cancer,risks are higher among smokers. NEXT INTERNATIONAL CANCER CONGRESS was:set for ''78'in Buenos Aires. PUBLICIZED BY THE WASHINGTON POST this month, by the Los Angeles Times in,Augi. andiby Chemical & Engineering News in Sept., research among Mor- mons by UCLA,'s James Enstrom reportedly shows they have less cancer--in types not assocYatea in tFe liiterature with life-style habits from which many Mormons abstain. In,other word's, he appears tolbelieve there's some other factor beyondinot smokingior drinking,. Enstrom said his find- ings have been accepted for publication in Cancer; but that National Can- cer Institute has turned down his request for funds to pursue his:studies. _ _ _ . , WYNDER,, HOFFMAN and other researchers at the American Health, FounTati~on p~Iished'a report in Science that said the amount, of ni~trosamine, (a "potential carcinogen"), found in variouss tobacco products "is to aur knowledge the highest concentration of a positively identified N-nitrosamine yet reported'in an environmental source," They added that "the relatively large : amounts" of the chemical found, "in cigarette, cigar;, and chewing tobacco could' have important biological implications." DOWNTREND in heart death rates in the past decade, as reported by the National Center for Health,Statistics earlier this year, was questioned by various sources quoted in Internal Medicine News. A Washington car- diol'ogist noted that the statistics are base-3-on death certificates which he said are an:unreliable index of causes of death~. Similarly,. Prutting,of New York, noted advocate of autopsies, said "medical sta- tistics are worse than useless since they are based largely on guess- work." Another Washington physicianisaid of the report, "I don't be- lieve it. ..It does a disservice to both physicians and the publiic." And the American Heart Assn. was skeptical. National Heart & Lung In- stitute was reported to be doing its own analysis of the data. MtDIA THIRTY COLUMNS in New Yorker magazine were de- voted to a feature by Thomas Whiteside who ran ' C= through the whole,business of smoking and.healith, politics and the gen, erall success of the American tobacco industry. Ending onihis own sour note,, Whiteside said the U.S. govt. spendls not enough on research of "disease. ..caused by the use of,cigarettes" and more than twice that amount to support the tobacco industry. DEVELOP YOUR OWN CONCLUSION from the leads to these two news relleasest .: Metro o1'itan Life:: "Women seeking equaZity, would be well ad= sz e to 7imzt t ez;r search. They're outliving men longer thann ever and it looks like they'Z'Z continue to do so. So say Metro- poZitan Life Insurance company statisticians in a study of sex differentials in mortality." C ~ ~..: ~. Cl1, 41 6=

f -4- • American Cancer Society: "Scientific: warnings about an in- creasxng lung cancer eat rate for momen who smoke eigarettes were confirmed today in the American Cancer Society's Facts &' Figures; 1975, revealing that lung cancer has now become the number three cancer killer of American Women." NONSMOKER ISSUE. D.C. CITY COUNCIL amendediilts fire actedito prohibit smoking in retail executive offices of retail stores and allows management to provide for smoking areas., The new action also bans smoking impublic elevators. A: council committee reported, that "it does not overlook the parallel benefit to the general'public health,by this prohibition against smoking particularly in ele- vators., Many persons are adversely, affeected by tobacco smoke in elose quarters." CV V n d7i, tores ne more c tomers. The ban doesn~'t apply to restaiirants, restrooms, loung ploying more than 2-0 persons or havingia capacity for 200 RHODA NICHTER, N.Y. suburban gadfly among smoking-ban ad- vocates, wrote N.Y. Times Magazine that "When I saw the pzc- ture (il'lustrating, Hugh:Hefner's ar, 'The Comfort Behind the Joy of Sex '.,.) which shomed him holdingg a cigar„ I understaruiwhy his advice had seemed wortliless to me. The advice was coming from a cigar smoker,, who is invariably an inconsiderate, bad breathed; sado-masochistic lover--sadistic because he infZicts his malodorous, poisonous smoke on his lovee; and masochisttic because he is cutting off his own oxygen supply which is much,needed for good'love play. He would fail as my Zover: My lover smells good." STRONG WORDS from Dr., Bertram Carnow, director of occupational and.environmental medicine, U. of Ill., appeared on the pages of a M'edicaI World News feature aboutt energy conservation, and the resulting rising air po3ilution., "You can't have infinite growth in a finite system„" Carnow, saidl. "In an energy crisis you have to reduce what's most reducible. Between light,, heat„ industry, and automobiles, the Zast is the Zeast essential., The ultimate solution is to get rid of'the auto- mobile altogether." PEOPLE "ANTISMOKING DRIVE FIZZLES" was the headline to a short N.Y. Times story about a town in northern New Jersey that was besieged by "intensive publicity" for a "cold turkey day" where everyone who smoked was askedito show up at a bonfire and symbolically burn theilr tobacco and give up smoking. Times reported it a flop. ". ..OnTy about 50 curious adu:lts"' showed up, said the newspaper. F "OUiIT"' CRUSADES WASHINGTON-BASED Coordinating Boardiof Tobacco Trade Assns. is giving distributors a leaflet that lilsts,32 positive moves showing "What You Can Do About The. .. Smoking Ban Challenge"'and a recent William Murchison, Dallas Morning News editorial about the smoker/nonsmoker issue. Their addiress is 918' 16th St., NLW.,, Washington„ D.C. 20006, INDUSTRY' NEWS FROM THE W. VA. WHOLESALERS ASSN.c, Simulated license plate tags that say, "Cigarettes Don't Pay Taxes People Do_'"' Her- bert Nottingham exec. dir. of the group is making the tags available free to mfrs., reps., tobacco di~stributors,, re- taliliers andi"friends of,tobacco." He can be contacted at. 4101 Noyes Ave., Charleston, W. Va., 25304.