Tobacco Documents Online

Institute Newsletter PREPAREO ~FOR ~Y'OUR'~ I NFORMATI ON BY THE: , INSTITUTE STAFF' ! T779 . KSTREET, NJW.', WASHINGTON, D.C. 20008•296-849'II Number 102 July 15',, 1974 I WASHINGTON H,EW'S LONG OVERDUE 1974 report to Congress, I "The HealthiConsequences of Smoking,," was fi- l nally released as Sec. Weinberger asked Congress to set authority to regulate'"tar" and nicotine content in cigarettes and "other ingredi-' ents shown to be'injurious to'healthl." In alstatement,that was picked up by most major newspapers,,, TI President Kornegay said, "For the' first time in these annuaZl reports HEW seems to have'shifted at least slightZy, from its usual one- sided presentation'of scientific evidence about smoking and'heaZth. The current docuznent'contains repeated:ref,erences to''studies either par- tiaZ:Zy or wholly znconstistent"with the'"scientzfia judgment' expressed a decade ago by an advisory, corsnit'tee whose report on smoking and'healt'h'd has been, until now, accepted'by HEW without qualification. .•On the other hand; by, leaving the responsibility for drafti'ng, the report in the hands'of,'the Clearinghouse for Smok'ing and'Heal'th; whose mission is to'propagandize against tobacco, the'Department continues to produce a document' misleading in important respects. St'ati!ng coneZusions from' research, never intended by'its authors is j'ust one'inexcusabZ'e excarrpta'.. However, because t'h'is report does tend' to admit tliat' there are unanswered' questions about smoking,, we hope it will help stimulate the research so -badZy needed on the subject."' MEANWHILE, Sen. Helms (R-N.C_) wrote President Nixon~andlasked that he disassociate h,imself from,the Weinberger recommendation., "I do feeZ that it' is i,irrportant' to bear in mind," Helms wrote the President, "that Congress,, after exhaustive hearings..•re,7.eeted similar proposals on the grounds that regu- lation of cigarettes is the function of'the legislative branch, and:not a matter to be delegated to any agency or department." (Single capies of the Report may be'obtained by writing The National Clearinghouse for Smoking and Health, Room 53'9,Westwood Tower, 5401 Westbard Ave., Bethesda, Md., 20016. TI Newsletter will note when they are available through'the Gov''t Printing Office.). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMM'ISSIONi, as recently hinted in Ad- vertilising'Age magazine (Newsletter 100), decided to limit application of the "Fairness Doctrine" to broadcast view- points or editoriaTs'rather than to product commercials thus reversing its 1967 decision to apply the "Doctrine" to

i broadcast cigarette ads. FCC'Chairman Wiley saidl,, "We do:not believe that the fairness,doctrine provides an appropriate vehicle for the correct'ion of false and mi'sleadting advertising!' and that if an ad were found to be mi'~slead'ing the prop- er course wouldl be "to ban it aZtogether, rather than to make its claims subject of a broadcast debate." AGAIN, AS LAST YEAR, Re~. Van Deerlin (D.-Caliif.,) tried to,knock, $,1!4!0',- 000 out of the Agriculture appropriation bill' in the House, which he said would'be usedlas an act of'"hypocrisy"'to pay for advertising of cigarettes in Austria and Thailand made with:American tobacco--putting the U.S. in "the role of pusher to young Thais and young Austrians." Reps. Natcher (D-Ky.)' and Taylor (D-N.C.) gave speeches justifying the whole Department of Agriculture tobacco program economically, and Van Deerlin's amendment was defeated on voice vote. HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS' COMMITTEE„in reporting out the annual HEW money bill,, saild„ "There is evidence now. .. that susceptibility to Zung cancer is:in part inherited: ." .,Work is in progress to perfect a sirnpZe blood,test to detect these genetic differences." SENATE SOON will debate setting up a Consumer Protection Agency,, de- signed to intervene for "the public" in regulatory proceedings before other agencies. Meanwhile, Sen. Mondalle (D-M,inn.) offered an amendtnenti to provide financiing "private.consumer organizations"' which might also want:to intervene. In support, he was "proud" to display in the Con- gressional Record a letter from,Banzhaf, whom Mondale called "'expert on private litigation in the public interest." BANZHAF signed himself as,"professor,of law and legal acti- vism." Neither he nor the senator mentioned that he heads a potentially beneficiary organization--ASH. In fact,, he may have derrogated the authority of his own outfit when he stated,, arguing for multiple representations in regulatory proc eedings,, " .I't is probabZy presumptious, for any individuaZ private organization or government agency to presume to represent 'The Public Int'erest' in any given proceeding." THREE DAYS LA'TER, taking Banzhaf at hiis word, Sen~. Allen (D-Ala.) ar- gued that the letter provided further cogent reasons that the CPA wouldn't work out at all. SEN. COOK (T2-Ky.) announced that he"s been assured by the Federal Energy Administration that the tobacco industry will receive 100% of its present energy requirements and that FEA. "'realize(s) the importance of tobacco to your state and too our economy as a whol'e." FURNITURE MFRS. are faced with,possible Consumer Product Safety Commis- sion regulation of uphollstery and bedding flammability. So:four of their trade assns, petitioned: CPSC to ban sale of "any cigarette which does not discontinue burning if the smoker does not drara on it for some period in excess of one minute but less than Z0 minutes as determined by the ComPni'ssion,"' Defending furniture, the assns.said cigarettes are "the prime ignition source." The petition acknowledge&CPSC',''s recent turndown of "tar"- nicotine regulation, claimed the agency does have authority to move on the new front.

GOVT.,"s National Institute on Alcohol~ and Drug Abuse issued a, new report which said' that heavy drinkers run alfar greater risk of developing certain cancers thaninondrinkers and added that heavy smoking combinedi with heavy drinkiingi multiiplies the risk as:much as 15 times compared with those,who completely abstain. Dr. Morris E. Chafetz~, director of NIADA, estimated that the cost of alcoholi-related problems such as accidents,, lost production, healthiand'mediical care runs in the area of $25 billion yearly. (A 1966 NIH study pointed out that to- bacco-related "probllems," comparable definitionally to those mentioned in the new alcoholi report, cost an estimated $5.3' billion yearlyY. REP. MCKhY' (D-Utah), a Mormon, introduced a bill to set up smoking and no-smoking space in aTl public interstate transportation, aSlleging di's- comforts and' dangers for nonsmokers andlgiving no indication of'aware- ness that his proposal is al~ready universalliy in effect. TRACY WESTEN,identifying himself as attorney for "Public Communication, Inc.," and'callingiit "a non-profit, public interest law and media firm", petitioned the Federal Trade. ~Commission to enjoin L&M,from certainicurrent advertisiingi '' and to require the company to pubZishi"corrective" ade., " Among other things he,callled cigiarette smoking "'an addic- tion. ..as compelling for many smokers as heroin or mor- phine", and charged that L&M ads.pictoriallly render the accompanying heal~th:warnings "ineffective." ANOTHER EMIGRE~: "As several associates have d'one, Gordon Zubrod, diirec- tor of the treatment division of the National Cancer Instiitute., departs to become director of one of the multi,-million-dollar, government- financed Cancer Centers, at U. of Miami. Back in '65 he wrote that cancer "controZ becomes feasible without proofof the exact nature of the carcinogen, if one is certain of the set of'circumstances that invartiab'Zy,gives rise to cancer. 3uch,is the situation Lrith respect to cigarette smoking and Zung cancer.,", NptVSM'OKER! ISSUE AVIIIDO, U. of'Penn. pharmacologist who has studied the worTd''s literature on effects of tobacco smoke on nonsmokers, testifying for Calif. tobacco distribu- tors before:a state:senate health committee on a smoking-restrictionn bill similar to Arizona's: "As a scientist, I must seriously question govern- mental action in matters ofpublic heaZth, (such as the proposed regulation) takenn in recognized.absence of'reZialile supportive fact. It is my~concZusion that ciga- re:tte:smoke as encountered in public pZaces does not represent a h'eaZth haaard to the normal nonsmoker. "' (A "nonsmokers' bill of' rights" failed to pass in the assembly. Other similar measures are pending in the senate). LOS ANGELES city council's public health, welfare and envi- ronment committee propos:edian ordinance to:segzegate smok- ers in,many public:and'privately owned1buildings. RIVERSIDE, Calif., board of'supervisors is pondering an ordinance pro- posed by the city's county health d'ept., that would either ban smoking in certain publi'c places or provide.machines to filter smoke from the air.

-4- I CARMEL, Calif., city council banned smoking at its meetings',. A local newspaper reported that the council noted that i~n addition to being a health hazard, cigarettes were also burn- ing holes in a new rug,and upholstered'chairs in the city hall. FOND DU LAC,, Wisc., city, council briefly debated a proposal to ban smo- ing in its chambers a:ndivoted it down. Insteadliit decided on a volun- tary agreement to segregate smokers andlnonsmokers. SUFFOLK COUNTY (Long Island) legislature tabledia tough smoke-ban proposal when,the county attorney discovered a legal defect. Possibility for reintroduction of the mea- sure exiists. DOCTORS attending a meeting of the Canadian Medical Assn.voted' by a 2-1 margin to ban smoking when they convene because "physicians shouldd set examples of lifestyles promoting good health." IN DADE COUNTY' (Miami) FLA., Commissioner Cain, pleased _-:t, with the 8-01vote by his',colleagQes to outlaw smoking in supermarkets, said he'll go for health estabIi~shments (in, cluding doctors'offices) next, then for restaurants. The M'iami' Herald reacted': "It is discrimination." Later, the Heraldlpublished' seven citizen lietters, two of them raising. Caim with Cain, the other five supportiing,him. ENFORCEMENT: Some argue that unenforceable laws create disrespect for laws and are therefore worse than none. In Miami, in the wake of the supermarkets smoking ban, a newspaper survey of store managers (who would have to be the enforcers) was' reported: "Most. ..wh'o knew about the new law don't'expect many probZems with it. But they apparentlyy don't plan to take a hard Zi,ne on i't, either:n PALM'.BEACH Post carried a UPI story reporting that St. Petersburg au- thorities have arrested andifined five smokers smoking illegally--three in supermarkets,, one in a hardware store and,the fifth an electri.ciann working inithe rear of a store. ALLERGIC? More frequently, the claim is made that tobac- co smoke causes:am allergic reaction. Not so, says Cbhen, aiChicago allergist, iniToday' s Health., Some persons, he says, can get a stuffed!-up nose from air polliution, emo- tional or temperature changes or smoke--but it's'a "non- allergac" reaction. AND:A SPOKESMAN, for the National Institute of Allergy and'Infectious Diseases in Washington, in answer to a query, said it has no figure, for "tobacco allergy„" little evidence to warrant any stud'y of it, andi althoughisome persons:react to a tobacco extract skin test because of a protein element,, that disappears in combusion and isn't measurable in smoke. "Majority favors banning smoking in public places," said the headline disclosing results of a poll taken by the, Springfield Illinois State Register. Perhaps, but we'll never know. The results were reported as "Yes,". 55%!, "No," 47% and "Don't know or refused,"'3$'. That,adds to 105%'.

-5- COUNTERPOIiNTS: Miriam Unger, who sounds like the kindlof smoker you'd' like to meet, wrote inia Newsda article: ". ..Tabacco smokers don't hold up candy stores or mug old la s in el'evators. Yet smokers are treated as pariahs in every public place. ..As for legitimate theatres,in Manhatt'an; forget'it. Yow can huddle under the marquee om the wiiui'-swept'sidewalk while the virtuous are in= si:de burnishing their dental work with chocolate nut bars. Trains and'planes have also segregated the hated smokers--probably in the worst' locations, although, ir¢ the case of the Long Island Railroad'it'.'s difficult to pinpoint where it might be ...Sbme of my best friends are nonsmokers--although I:wouldn't want'my daughter to marry one. Nonsmokers fZood the 'Letters:to the Editor' columns with, totally unsubstantiated claims that other people's smoking is injurious to their health. .. I'pestered t3ie doctor further about'wYuzt percentage of the population suffered from ''smoker alZergy,' 'I've never encountered one in the course of my professional career,,' he sazd. Just as I suspected„ 'I'm all'ergic to' has replaced''I don't like' in the vocabularies of'many people." MEDI',A BEAUmIFUL DOWNTOWN BURBANK, the scene of:Tom Snyder's NBC "Tomorrow Show," played host to TI's Kloepfer,!UC of Penn.''sAviado,, ASHI's Banzhaf, Silver Hill Foun- dation"s Tamarimand a Jack:Albert, director of a Smoke Watchers "clin- ic" in Southern Calif. Snyder spent half of the show"s hour discussingg quit-smokingiclinics with Tamarin and Albert paying particular atten- tion to his own smoking habit (he went through a clinic but later took up cigarettes again--he referred'to them as "coffin nails"). Banzhaf lauded his own plea to FCC to allow counter spots o to run in light of ciigarette advertising. He calledlthe move "a little l'etter which everybody, has come to love." Kloepfer,, however, reminded him~ that FCC had just "junked its decision ...and:decided it was a very, bad idea:," (See story above),. Aviado said he'd recently attended an ilnternati~onall scientific work:- . shop to di~scuss whether or not cigarette smoke is harmful to the non- smoker and that the sci~enti~sts found "there was no evidence at al2 that a normal'person exposed to cigar•ette smoke is exposing himself to some sort of a hazard'." . He further added that "all we! have is suggestive: information based on measurements of carbon monoxide in the room,, and:if you excuni'ne these reports, there is no~evidence for believing that there is a health hazard:" _alkedlabout segregating smokers~. Kloepfer said the Theg.t operator of a restaurant should d'ecide whether to segre- gate, not the,government. Banzhaf, as he's done in recent . talk shows, complained that on commercial airline flights "they run the dirty movies on the back of the plane,, so smokers get to see the dirty,moviues. Us poor nonsmokers have to suffer with the G-rated' stuff. n .DESPITE ADECADE OF'WARNING', says George Gallup, there's been no sig- nificant reductiomih the number of Americans who smoke. His new sur- vey showed that.,4!a% of,American adults smoke cigarettes andithat the. U.S. ranks 5th in percent of' smokers among five nations.surveyed. (Canada, 52% ' smoke; West Germany, 47%; Great,Britain,, 4:6%; Switzer- land, 41%). Gallup said the percentage of smokers is highest among men,, those with a high school educationy, people under 50 and those in the middle i~ncome group.

TI PRESIDENT KORNEGAY penned a guest editorial for U.S'. To- bacco Journal on the nonsmoker issue. He said the industryy is committed'to providing scientific truth and added:: "Ntrxnu- facturers, members of The Tobacco Institute, are increasing their com- mtitment to this task. We have begum to present scientific testimony to match the emotional demonstrations of the tobacco foes at public hearings on the nonsmoker question. ..But the job of combating con- t'rived propaganda with common sense is so big that every, person rvith, a pocketbook interest'and a perception of truth has to do part'of'it. We can retain our pride in the worZ'd'''s best tabacco products and in our industry's outstanding support of'no-strings smoking and heal'th research. But that isn't enough. Tobacco foes have descended to the Z'eveZ of buttons and:bumper stickers, to~letters to the editor and' marches on,city hall. We must meet them,there." NEW'YORK TIMES did another "roundup" story on the nonsmoker question!,, overstatedithe Surgeon General's conclusions on the health aspect, and' got a correcting letter fromiThe Tobacco Institute. TRAN'S!WORLD AIRLINES, according to Ad Age, will air,com-,._ mercial advertising on its:in-flight channels. The maga- zine said,TWA has indicated that it doesn't want ads for cigarettes or competing air carriers. Other airlines are reportedly "'exploring the idea," the ad' industry magazine sa id'. I CLEARINGHOUSE Director Horn, at a Chicago news PEIgPLE' conference before addressing an AMA symposium on coronary artery disease, said cigarette smoking causes twice as~many fatal' heart attacks as lung cancer deaths in the U'.S. H'e said!studiess indiicate that 2/3 of'heart attack deaths among men in the 45 to 4'9-year oldlage bracket are chiefly caused by cigarette smoking. Horn also said that per capita cigarette consumption is soon to return to its 1964 high of 4,100 cigarettes per year. He said smoking is increasing among womeniand teenage girls while declining among men and' teen boys. He estimated that 52 millioniAmericans are smokers, but stated that were it not for the '64 Surgeon General's report, "We would have 70 million to 75 million smokers today." AT AN IiNTERNATIONAL ANTI-POLLUTIiON CONFERENCE in Paris, two cancer researchers said,that four of five human cancer-cases are probably caused by the polluted',envi!ronment, according to Reuters. Dr. L. Tomatis of the,International Cancer Re- search Agency, Lyons, France, and S.S. Epsteinlof Case West- ern Reserve U., Cleveland, noted a clear link between cancer and the environment., Said Epstein: "There is now Z'ittZe doubt that many chronic diseases, particularly cancer, are caused by environ- mental pollutants." "IT IS KIND' OF' IRONICAL, "' said' Terry in, a Minneapolis speech,, "to see the tobacco industry advertising the virtue of:l'ow tar„ low nicotine cigarettes. Every time it does so,, it affirms the basic contention: that cigarettes are hazardous." PROPSOTION:: Robert S. Pless, formerly corporate secretary,, Larus &,Brother Co., Inc., tio president_

-7- MORRIS FISHBEIN', one of the old-timers in American medicine, wrote in & Medical World News editorial, "Practically all physicians now forbid smok, i.ng for the nursing mother, not for fear that any of the toxic ingredients wiZZ pass into her miZk, but because the ashes might drop into the baby's eyes."' hSEARCH ANOTHER TOBACCO-INDUSTRY-funded research pro- gram was announced by UCLA noting that the five-year, $1,.7 million project will study lung defense mechanisms and! early detection and treatment of cancer. A joint statement noted the industry belief that "this major new grant expands our support of'independent' scientific research. It reaffirms our efforts over the past two decades to resolve questions about smoking and health, in the only way possible -- by independent sci- entific research.This new grant brings the industry commitment to nearly $50~ milliom. LONDON!BROADCASTINGICOMPANY broadcast an appeal by an In- sti~tute of'Psychiatry researcher for twins and adults who were adopted to identify themselves to help in a study of whether the tendency to smoke may be inherited. She saidd the study is sponsored by the "American Tobacco Council." Council for Tobacco~Research in,N.Y. confirmed it has made a grant to the Institute for the purpose., THIS SPRING, Feinsteiny the Yale epidemiologist, reported startling, data showing that the greater the smoking history of a patient, the more apt he is to be given tests which willl lead' to lung cancer diag- nosis. Now the American Cancer Society has given an unconscious "push" to that idea:: In its:journal,, CA, a New York thoracic surgeonladvises colleagues to ga beyond just chett X-rays to seek lung cancer in "hi~gh- risk patiients"--and by that he means only the smokers. FORD MOTOR CO. began anieffort to coax 25 volunteer employ- ees, identified'by a computer as heart-attack prone on the ,~ti,~basis of conventional "risk factors,," toichange their life- styles, including smoking. Ford says it's a,possible fore- i,runner for al!1 its 4,0001corporate hg., employees. PERPLEXING: UPI, reported' that Dr. Ronald' Collins, a North Carolina med'ical researcher, told the sixth:Pan-American Congress:on Rheumatic. Diseases in Toronto that "art'nri'tis victims who smoke appear to su; fer more ., .," respiraiory`aiZ'ments than nansmoking arthritis vzctims or'nonarthritic smokers. UPI said Collins could!not explain the assertion., DOES PARENTS' SMOKING cause respiratory ill!s in children? Antismokers would have you believe so, but four years ago Environmental Protection Agency researchers reported a study of Memphis school children which said' no. Now British Medical Journal has published a study of U.K. youngsters which also says no:. HEALT'H ORGANIDZATTiONS' BIG'STORY about the American Cancer Society's science writers" seminars--always a major source of anti-tobacco "'news"--in a sales trade magazine,r focusing on the 17th one which, was heldinear St. Augustine. Excerpts: ". ..Atways takes place a week or so before the society's annual fund~raisi,ng drive. ..FZood of news that' comes out' of the workshops has the entire country thinking, 'cancer:''at G.:

-8- r ,j,ust the time ACS launches its annual plea for research (sic) money., ..Week-Zong; stay at the plush resort and country, club: ..invi'tat'ions are val'ued. ..ACS pays all the expenses of'doctors who attend. . . Doctors consider their invitations an honor. ..ACS science editor, AZ'Davis; works closeZy, with each doctor to create, between,them, a clear, concise account of his work. Papers are then printed and' synopsized'by editorial workers at ACS. ..ACS provided 4 Telex machines, 2:Xerox Telecopiers and 6'phones;, plus dozens of typewriters in a press room. ..and a tstudio' decorated to resemble a living room for tv interviews or filming." The: story even explained that ACS gives reporters lists of questions to ask doctors. ACS ANNOUNCED a joint program with~the U.S. Civil Service Commission, OTin Corporation and' Honeywell, Inc., for "can- cer educati~on" among 2.6 million public:and 100,,0001corpor- ate employees. "Smoking withdirawai clinics" to be included. T AXES NEWSLETTER 100 REPORTED that N.Y. Dept. of Tax- ation and Finance was using business envelopes with an imprint urgiing citizens:to report cigarette bootleggiing. Now the mayor's office is fol'Iowingisuit with this note next to the post- mark: "Report Cigarette Smuggling To:: 22$-31391." INDICTED: Four Brooklyn women, on charges of smuggling four million cartons of'cigarettes into:NYC from North, Carolina a year ago. BrookLyn"s district attorney told the New York Times that the smuggled cigarettes cost the ;, state and' city over $9 million in unpaidl revenues, FORE IGN IN HONG KONG, a government ad hoc committee onn cigarette smoking, released recommendations to the government to deal with the smoking:-heaTthi question and invited public comment. The committee noted it has already met with tobacco industry representatives there and said it willi later make recommenda- tions as to acceptance, modification or rejection of proposed measures. The chairman of the committee stressed the fact that the gpvernment has not yet formed a view on the proposals contained in the,report. While recommending advertising restrictions, the committeee suggested that taxes not be increasedion tobacco products because a tax increase would not affect consumption. The report also said,„ "It accepts that no evidence has been produced to show that the inhalation of secondary, smoke contributes t'o the de- veZopment of lung cancer but considers t'hat,, as a further discourage- ment to smoking and because smoking in pubZic places undou3t'edZy causes nuisance to nonsmokers„ it is appropriate on more general grounds to consider whether further restraints are required." THE'LAST'ISSUE of The Newsletter,, number 101, carried with it a copy of ,-•~ "Some Facts!Akiout Tobacco."' Since then, TI staff has been made aware of a typographical error on page one undpr the "Consumption"'headling. W ~ The,correct figure for snuff consumption last year is 25.6 million Vi << op und's,, not 6.6 million,as printed ini"Facts." All new press runs of C.: the information sheet will include the correction. 4-- ® I ###