Tobacco Documents Online

nstitute Newsletter PIR EPUIRE;DFdR YOUR'I NFDRMATI DNBY THE I NSTITUTE STAFF 1778 N. STREET, N.W'., WASHINGTON, D.C:, 20006 • 29&8N7l, . Number 96 April 16, 1924 I COMMZTTEES of both Senate and House,, favorably reporting bills to expand the "'national cancer , program," recommended requiringithe Natiionasi Cancer Iinstitute to publii- cize its research and prevention,knowledge more widely, hiring outside contractors i~f necessary to do the job. Wk1SH I NGTON ACTIONON SMOKING & HEALTH (ASH) vigorously obj,ected to the bus owners' petition (Newsletter 95) to increase smoker seating in interstate buses from 20% to 50% and to extend the effective date of the regiulation• ASH said that "the presence of tobacco:smok'e, especiaZl'y inn a confined area„ present's a serious medical threat to the mi'lZions of Americems aho have certain medi:'caZ susceptibiZitie:s and condztions." "INFANT MQRTALITY' continues to decline in the U.S." said the National Center for Health Statistics as reported in AMA Newsletter. NCHS said,infant mortality rate,in 1973 was,17.,6 per 1,00q live births,, the lowest in history. It has d'eclined steadily since 197A's 19~.8. D[dIEW''s "Smoke House" claims that more women have beemsmoking more cigarettes in. _that period. SEN,. PROXMIRE (D-W'isc.) said in a recent speech on the Senate' floor:: "Cigarette smoking is directl'y implicated" with lung cancer, erphysemaland heart disease. Continued'the Wisconsin Senator:, "The federal attack on cigarette smok,ing has come to fruition in'the past l5 years. ..Unfortunate:Zy, these efforts have not been'as suc- cessfuZ' as we might have hoped. "' NEW YORK TIMES noted that HEW has released a 130-page report by a Pres- idential study panel calling for an expanded national effort againstt heart disease. The report,, commented the Times, was released a year and aihalf after it,was completed, because, the Times said, an HEW spokesman said' it had "simply been, forgotten during most of last year. " Before that,, there was apparently a delay because of aiconfLict with the Ad~- ministration's policy aver money and manpower in the heart area.

-2- I REP. MOSS (D-Ca2if.), put into the Congressional Record'a piece by Norman Cousins complaining about school'. smoking rooms because of the "hazard"'to children's health. Moss blamed advertilsing and parental influence for continuing,smoking,by youngsters. IN A REPORT ON the American Cancer Society's "intensified" antismoking campaign, Joann Rodgers of' the Baltimore News American said ACS is aiming at womenismokers and will seek a total ad ban., Ms. Rodgers added that "tobacco companies are not going to sit quietly throughorut'' the new compaign. Their position has been to pointout in as many ways as possible--and'with some justification--the Zink betweenn m:garet smoking and lung cancer is still indirect." She said, "Tobacco interests are not just blind'defenders of'the 'cause''" and noted research funded through the Council for Tobacco Research., MED I~A. FROM THE':MIAMI NEWS: Johns Hopkins Epid'emiolbgy Prof. Richard F. Morton of American Public Health Assn. said APHA and Moss had carefully selected the 21 mg. "tar" level for their Consumer Product Safety Commissionn pe ti tio n. "Studies have shown that smokers rrilZ'tol'erate a re- ductian of up to almost 409'of the tar content'tri'thout complaint„"' he said., "It's a little like watering the whiskey." He told the News consumer columnist that other (unidentified) studies show that if "tar" content were cut to less than 21 mgs. it wouldiliead smokers to smoke more cigarettes. "IF Y'QU'kE FLOWiV, C0M4ERCIAILEY recently and experi'enced' a bx¢rrpy landzng, it may be that: your pilot was a smoker;" said a Montgomery, Ala., Advertiser editorial on N.Y. research alleging that smoking pilots suffer reduced oxygen loads which affect manual dexterity and eyesight. The Advertiser noted smoking bans in other public transportation and said.,"Wa ch out,, smokers, you're becoming an endangered species." MEDICAL WORLD NEWS reports that NCL's chief of surgery has designed a bumper sticker, "Stcmrp out Old A'ge -- Keep Smokzng„" as well as a special cigarette holder for "a doctor at the,Institute who couldn't stop smoking."' The cigare tte is smoked through a glass tube containing a mouse,,"so that' the mouse -- instead:of the man -- gets lung cancer." MWN says he oftenitakes it along on speaking engagements. INiA SERIES of celebrity public service radiolspots for American Federa- tion for the Blind, Joan Crawford decries the "heartbreaking rumor" that causes "generous Americans" to save cigarette wrappers, bevera:ge can pull tops and even tea-bag tags to obtainiguide dogs for the blind!. "Despite disclaimers from the t'obacco industry" and others, says Miss Crawf ord. the rumors persist. "The t'ruth is no blind person is denied a guide dog for Zack of funds;"' says Miss Crawford. Like the AFB, TI and at least one company have noted a recent pick up in the number of queries about pack saving. SOUTHWEST'SCENE„ a supplement in the Sunday Dallas News, ran a two-pager on how "social disapproval looms ever more menacingly for the wretches with tar-stained fingers."

-3- PEOPLE "LET'S NOT'TRY TO PA'SS'LAWS'that Legislate smoking out of busi'ness," said, Thatcher Longstreth~, exec., v.p. of the Greater Phila. Chamber of Commerce in aiChamber publi~cation.He said smokers should be confined to special areas and add'ed: "Wfiat a cl'ean, clear; pure, fragrant, cheerful world it will be when all we have to:worry about in the ai'r that'we breathe is sulphur,, carbon monoxide, smog and industriaZ' polZ'utants. "' . TENNESSEE'S REPUBLICAN GOV. DUNN'h,ad some harsh,words about tobacco when:he tol'd the Seventh Day Adventist magazine, Lilsten: "I quit ('(cigarette smoking) ) about' nine years ago when I saw what it was doing. As a practicing; dentist I saw many patients with cancerous lesions ., . . I saw . people dying of'Zung cancer, and I concluded tobacco was wrong for me ... If it does have some harmful economic effect' an Tennessee, rve'ZZ just have to use our good Tennessee ingenuity, . . and come up with another way to overcome that ecQnomic problem."' - SOVIET ATTITUDES on smoking and health~were explained by, P.N.. Burgasov, deputy mi~nister of health,, during a visit to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in N.C. "We try to explain the harms of' smoking. There is no goverrument regulation,on smoking and it would be difficult to envision sueh , a reguZation. " Often, said the Russian, "the very one who is Zecturing about the harms of smoking will Zight a cigarette after he has finished his taZk." He finished and lit a cigarette. SALT LAKE CITY Deseret News quoted'a Cincinnati Mormon official who condlemned cigarette advertising. Next time you see the Surgeon General's warni~ngiat the bottom of th e adl, he said,, "remember that you know of other counsel even more aZazming and'of far greater significance: 'Warning;r Your Creator Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking, Is Dangerous To Your Eternal Life'." RESEARCH I NATIONAL CANCER'INSTITUTE told appropriations committees in Cbngress that "inztial definition of some characteristics of'Z'ess hazardous cigaret:tes has been attained."' No specifics. Meanwhile, on:NBC's "Today"' show, NCI's Gori said the effort involved eliminating "taaxes, nicotine and a variety of other things . . . too Zong to enumerate here . . . I believe that within a year we will be able to publish and make available to the manufacturers elements that can be incorporated into convnerciaZ cigarettes .., . Even now we have some informattion that could be utiZized." Of the:"safer" cigarette, another, NBC-TV newsmam, Ron Nesseni, reported that "the government has spent more than $8 million on,th'is search for a safer ci'garette:The findings are reported to the tobacco industry, which has adopted some of them. The tar and'nicotine content'' has gone down more than 30% in the last l'0 ~ years due to improved fiZters, paper, and tobacco.. In fact, some reZativeZy safe C..:' cigarettes have been perfeeted; but they dbn't taste g;ood."' ~ ~. ~

-4- RESEARCH at Briigham,Young U., reports Salt Lake City Deseret News, has found that nearly a third of all Utahh men between 35 and 65 have symptoms of or are already victims of chronic respiratory disease. Findings of the study were sponsored and released by the federally funded Intermountain Regional Medical Program, which recommended a campaign agaiinst,tobacco use,-- including prohibition of its advertising in Utah -- the halt off tobacco "subsidies" and a heavy tobacco excise tax,, revenues of which would be allocated to those suffering from "tobacco-linked diseases." NONSMOKER ISSUE committee rooms. CALIFORNI~A state assembly passed' llegiislati~on creating nonsmoking areas in its legislative CONNECTICUT legislature voted,to ban smoking at meetings in public buildings. A FLORIDA state senator has introduced legislation to ban smoking in certain public places. A similar bill was introduced' in the house. NEW YORK CITY board of healthiwill consider a "health regulation to segregate smokers in all restaurants and, other specified public areas. Hearings by the board start this week., RHODE ISLAND' senate committee is considering albill,to confine smoking to specific areas in public places. During hearings the medical direc- tor of the R.i:. Blue Cross-Blue Shieldisaid there:'s evidence that lung, cancer in nonsmokers can be causedlby certai~n elements in air pollution~, includingitobacco smoke., NEWTON, MASS'., board of aldermenivoted 15-6 to ban smoking at all grocery stores in that suburban Boston town.. SANTA A'NA COUNTY, CALIF., board of'supervisors:passed an ordinance to segregate smokers in all county buildings open to the public. THE GRAHAM, N.C., Alamance News in suburban Greensboro called a new no-smoking regulation at Greensboro Coli~seum~ "ill conceivedl, " Said' the editorial': "3t seems incongruous for Greensboro,, with one of its major industries being, a tobacco factory, to suddenZy ,goin the holier than thou pZaces prohibiting smoking." IN ANN ARBOR, the city council authorized a $5 fine for smoking pot. Ih. Arizona,, South Dakota andlNebraska,, the fine for smoking tobacco inithe wrong place is, up to $1100. . C PORTLAND'S ORSGON'JOURNAL reported a Texas carpool system: ~..: that suggests a set,of carpool "courtesiles.," The first on the list:, Asking people not,to smoke. Q:. ~ TAXES CIGARETTE TAX'UPDATE: Tobacco Tax Council re- ports that 7'cigarette tax increase bills are N pending in state legislatures; two increase bilTs were passedi, in. Arizona andlin Maine; 8 bills to increase the tax were defeated and 6 tax reduction bills are pendiing.