Tobacco Documents Online

Institute Newsletter PREPARED:FOA YOURINFORMATION BW THE INSTITUTE',STAFF'1476 K STREET, N.W., WASHINOTON, D:C. 20006 •296%6tS4 Number 86 November 12, 19'73' *~* *** ~** "THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE on Health,Education" turned in its report, im an attractively printed brochure:: It foundlU.S. citizens aren't getting, enough information to help improve their health. One of'the committee's 18 members, RichardlMcGrail, deputy exec., v.p. of the American Cancer So- ciety, compllained:', "We may be somewhat prejudiced, but cigarette smoking is given,very light treatment as a probllem;' we believe it should1have beenn listed as one of'the major:health problems in the report." "Light treatment":?' On'page two, President Nixon is quoted:: ., ..,The whole society has a stake' in the health of' the indil- vidual. ..the non-smokers subsidize those who smoke." The letter of transmittal on page 11 says "'stud'ies show that young- sters who once urged their parents not to smoke have them- selves become cigarette smokers." SMOKING is describedlas a "violation of medical advice" on page 18., A. - gr-aph on+page 19 shows "rates of first heart attack," according to amount smoked., Page 21 says obesity, smoking, sedentary lifestyle:, drinking,, sugar and cholesterol "take a large toll" from the middle-aged middlee class. Presumably all this information was accumulated in,extensive pri- vate interviews and public hearings., But no documentation,is provided'' for any of it. *** ~~* **~ *** NEWENGLAND JOURNAL of Medicine ran several letters on the,coffee-heart, attack association question.H,ick,ey and associates pointed out that "De- gree of use of coffee,, tea and tobacco is largely self-selected, not ran- domly selected, resulting in biased usage subgroups that present special probllems'in hypothesis testing." In more colorful terms, a Calif., physician was reminded of the scientist who had fleas to jump when he played a record of "'Stars and'Stripes Forever.,' He cut off the legs on,one side,,

-2- and lo and behold they jumped sideways. He cut,off'the otherr legs and lo and beholld' they did not jump at alll. He conclud'edi - from this observation that cutting off both legs made them deaf." GOOD COVERAGE resulted from an AMA news release about a new report iin JAMAA that "coffee drinking does not cause heart attacks,," accordiingito the: re- lease., "It most,likely iis the cigarette smoking and other risk factors that bring on the heart attack,, "' i!t said,. The reported study involved 464 heart patients examined before they became ill at the Kaiser- Permanente Medical Center. It was said to contradict a coffee-heart at- tack, link reported by Boston researchers earlier in Lancet. Meanwhile, the research:team was scheduled to give a paper at thee the American Heart A'ssn,. meeting Nov. 8=1'.l„ on "Usage of tobacco, coffee,, aspirin and alcohol as predictors of myocardial infarc- tion." 7WO AUTHORS of:the coffee paper are Friedman and Siegelaub. WithiSeltzer,, supported in part with a Council for Tobacco Research grant, they co- authored a paper in American Journall of Epidemiology on exposures to en- vironmental hazards among,some 70,000 Kaiser-Permanente subscribers., They found,a pattern of'h,igher exposure among smokers, concluded that "the ap- parent quantitative importance" of smokingiin lung cancer "might be modi- fied somewhat" if this were taken into aacount., ANOTHER:QUANTI!TATIiVE CHIP at the smoking-lung cancer hypothesis was taken by Chicago researchers Carnow and Meier in a review of the literature on,"urban factor" in lung cancer in Archives of Environmental Healith., Their point: S'cience cannot yet sort out lung cancer causes with any accuracy., As far as cigarette smoking is concerned, "much,greater documentati'on is neededl" and the,most,they could say iis that "it appears to be"'a cause. Their review was supported' in part by the Environmental Pro- tectioniAgency., ANOTHER'GROUP, reporting in Archives find!ings of increasing respiratory abnormalities inimen which corresponded, they saidl„ with advancing age and amount of smoking, echoed the Carnow sentiment about pollution data~: "Not only is the measurement of all known pollutants beyond'the reach of most communities now, but...day-to-day exposures of:population groups can only be crudely estimated." "STUDY OF CHRONIC USE OF'M'ARIJUANA Demonstrates No, Chromosome Breaks, Brain Damage, or Untow,ard Effects." So ran the bold headline on page one of M'ediical Tribune, an outspokenly anti-tobacco newspaper supported by pharmaceutical advertising and sent f'ree to all physicians. The story: A previiousl!y unpublicized HEW project,completed 18 months ago. Thirty chronic pot,smokers (average seven cigarettes or two pipefuls per day), were put in a Jamaican hospital with:30 persons who did not use marijuana, then compared on the basis of extensive physical and psychological tests..

- 3- i Medical Tribune decided the results were definitiive. It said,that they-- "appear to lay at rest many common beliiefs about the deleterious effects of marijuana--beliefs based on laboratory observations (or anecdotes) of acute effects inihaphazardly collected groups of study subjects, without regard for iidiosyncratic physiologic differences or behavioral or, sociologic background!." DEATH RATE COMPARISONS, expressed,as ratios, were a major basis forr indictment of tobacco nearly tenlyears ago by the Surgeon Generall"s Advisory'Committee., Statistics from seven different studies--none of themirepresentative of al!1 smokers and nonsmokers--were thrown togeth- er to show that the mortality rate of the former was nearly 1.7 times the normi. Recently, Met Life published similar figures for the whole Canadiian male population (U.S. hasn't compiled such data) showing mortality ratios for single men,, and widowed or divorced men, compared with,married men., Obviously, those who find "cause"'in, suchistatistics should issue warnings to the unmarried'. Here is alcomparison of the data:: Ratios ~nadian Divorcees 8e Smokerr over Nonsmokers Canadian Singles over Cause of'Death (Surgeon Gen.) Marrieds (Met Life) Widowers over M~rrieds (Met Life) All Causes 1.7 1.5 2.0 Ischemic Heart Disease 1.7 1.3' 1.9 Cancers 2.1 1'.1' 1.6 Cerebrovascular Disease 1.3 1'.3' 2.1 Accidents ~ 1.2 2:1' 39' Su ic ides Influenza and Pneumonia 1.4 2.7 3:1' Circulatory Diseases 1,5 to 2.3 1.3 2.3 Bronchitis,,Emphysema & Asthma 6.1 (Ex. Asthma) 1.5 2.1 Ci rrhosis of Liver 2:2' 1.9 4.8' "'SM'OKING is a~minority behaviort it's misconception that everybody"s doing it," said'Daniiel Horn,, director of'the National Clearinghouse for Smoking & Health at the third annual Mayor's Cook County Youth,Conference on Smok- iing, in Chicago. He did add though, that despite widespread efforts to urg,e:youths to quit cigarettes, the overall percentage of:U.S. teen smok- ers "has not changediappreciably..."' Among adults, Horn said'„ "the fig- ures:keep dropping for men but are increasing for women. Women,"'he said, "are now smoking more like men and dying more like men.,"

-4" Chicago media covered'Horn fully. Chicago Today noted an up- coming Clearinghouse questi~onairre survey that will ask 7,000 teenagers in 36 states 64'questions about teen attitudes toward cigarette smoki~ng.. GELLHQRN,, the U. of,Va., law professor whose report to the Administrative Conference of the U.S. (Newsletter 83) included a description of the 1964! Surgeon General's report as an effort "to oversell a narrow product," pub- lished the same material,in a 611-pagp article in Harvard Law Review. FORMER'SURGEON'GENERAL Luther Terr told a jloint meeting of the Montgomery County (suburban Phila.) Medical Sbciety and the Montgomery Bar Assn., that about 250,000 to 3q0',000 permature deaths annually in this country are attributable to smoking. He saidifrom the time of his landinark 1964 report to now, smokers in the medical professi~on have dropped~from about 65% smoking to less than 2-0%. Terry said Congress should enact leg- islation controlling the amount ofl"tar" and nicotine in ciga- retiies.. A WAY WITH FIGURES: American Cancer Sbciety tried to show the effecti~ve- ness:of broadrast anti-cigarette announcements last week by citing an up- turn in cigarette sales in 1971, when commercials were banned and there were fewer anti-cigarette spots. The ACS figures were coupled with ann appeal to radio~and TV "to return some of these wond'erful,: well-prepared public service announcements to the air." Trouble is:, the Society used the wrong figures. According to. USDA, total consumptionlof cigarettes has increased yearly since 1969,, the height of the anti-cigarette broadcast activity. Per capitaifigures, such,as those used by ACS to indicate a 5.6% de- cline between 1963 and 1973, are affected by an 18% increase in the adult populationiin that period and cannot be used'to show, any smokiingi trends, says USDA. At ainews conference observing,ACS's 60th anniversary, Terry decllared,. "'There has not been one iota of'scientific evidence to refute any infor- mation that came out of ((sic))" the 1964 SG',report., He complimentedl"a New York:City newspaper" (Ed. note:: There isn't one), "with guts enough to prohibit cigarette advertising"; said NYC was a "sterling example"'of usingithe taxpenalty to reduce smoking,and said!he dbesni't think repeal of NYC's differential tax "is the answer to bootlegging"; said he doesn't know if the Consumer Product Safety Commission has the right to set "tar" and nicotine limits'; declared,there will be "significant impact,on lung cancer death rates"'in 5-10 years because of the large number of quitters. A handout at the conference saidiACS estimates that per capita consumptionlof cigarette "tar" is down 32%'im a decade andl53% less than 201years ago. "We regard this -- the tar-reducing trend -- as clear evidence that the tobacco industry,, despite its publilc d!i~sclaimers, accepts the evidence on the health, hazards of smoking,"'said the release.

41 -5- Dr. Alan K. Pierce former president of the Ameri an Thoracic Society,, told a Portland, Oregon Journal reporter that the marked increase in emphysema, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer is primarily due to ciga- rette smoking. As long as people persist in,cigarette smoking, he said, these diseases will continue to increase at a markedirate.. FRENCH NEWSPAPERS reported that the consultative assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation to its 17'member countries for stricter regulation of drink and tobacco advertising, andifor prohibition of ciga- rettes withimore than one mg of nicotine and 15 mg of "tar. " FROM BRITISH1NEWSPA,PERS: A, Bournemouth Evening Echo editorial said the, cigarette "now'seems cast as the all-purpose villain" and that public warnings about,smok,ing are "over-simplified.," It concluded that,"Ex- hortations are useless. More research might help." A,lietter in the. Shields Gazette said that "publicizingifacts favorable to the anti- smoking campaign and suppressing the antagonistic is little short of de- ceit." Meanwhile, reacting to the Nature editoriall (Newsletter 83) which which criticized hiIs assertion that smoking by mothers kills babies,, statistician Goldstein wrote the journal to admit that, compared with,ear:liler scientific publication, his popular arti- cle "was less cautious because it was more concerned with heal'thh education..." He went on,"When you say that the scientific evidence for a causal relationship may not yet be very con- clusive, you,are of course correct..." i THIS BIT,OF SATIRE',: by London Daily Telleqraph,columnist Peter Simple, seems worthy'of sharing in its entirety: Another B'rcakthrough? T IIE secretary of the improhL. ably'• namrd'd body the National SocicttnaU Non- tmokcrs„ in a~ letter tb this ncwspapcr;, points to the: fact that a lightcd cigarrtte waa the cause of the terrible fire at Douglas. lie calls for an endlto the acandal by which this "imp,lement: o{; deatHP ifi still avail,ible to childron fram cirorcttc-machines. l1icre ere natrsnrokcrs fAr moree exrtremis2: thinn he-DrLlroaly.n Gotlt-Jonr,, the~ Iln- oriilc - cra:rd, pill •frrnricd'mrdiral oflicerr off hcalth for StrirtdifordIs one - whoo bcliccrs that, . smnkinghasbecnrrchnnsible for almost alll hum-an ills and disastcrs thmughouY, history. Snmr,militnnt'. non-cmakinq' thrnlne•ians off thr Bcvindnn Sc•,:!H:. Ilonk'. Schn^rl bclic,-e tlrat tfiee applr Fve gn,•e toAdamlin the"Fliblirzl sc'mbnlic.parahle;" at't the' inst:iCatinnof Satan, ron'd In spite of a clrar Gnvcrnmcnt, )pr'alth warning, t+vs, really a cii`anctte. Atthet momrnt. at'canti Of' sorinlAe'ireli rrsecarrH wnrkrrsat NrrrllrvUniver~sity„under Dr Rnn 1Ta'rdlvarc, Ik'rrnrkinr nn~ anrsHnuativr cnrvey, nn "The: Corrclationof (Cig;urrttr Smok•Inqand V.iblcncrl" Pindingc,<ofnrO cI1rGr'.ctt at'rane'lVt thflt't emnkinq; thrrvnc'SY itr wrll•knmrni cnnnrctinn wiltt fire, mav frnrl to turn cmnl<rn ttn- rnnxrimielvtmN-.ird4' tlioerc}htv af Inmuldticm. prtrnl-hnmh'fand' explnsinns in arnrrall. Dr llonlwaro hnx.cnCCrstrd, a rnntrnltarl rxp.rriinrntt inn whirltl ticarrlle-•.mnkinq. in Ulatrr wonlill hrfnrliiildrn forA ctitnd prriml~ hntti~ to the Dririch Pnnrr<; the ITS,A. UMAA artd hndir-ard. Infict rnthc.~rhnlr pnryu.latinn. Irr holiavrc Ih'is migHt brina;abnut' a "dF'.imalir, dr•'rrrasr in thr' Inridrnreof v-iolence," n•ithinn a~ ahnrt, . time.. Rnt he admitc, to be fa{r, that not a:ll scientists would' aCrce with him. 11 01 41

YOUTH'& SMOK'ING: A,Lancet editorial said "casual ignition" and "irrele- vant smokes" on British tv probably contribute to making smoking an un- fortunate "norm" for youngsters. CANADIAN PAPERS reported that:MONY Life, which they called, Canada's new- est insurance company, is offering a six percent premium discount to per- sons who attest they haven"t smoked cigarettes within a year. BASED1ON THE FINDINGS of researchiby the National Commission on Fire Pre- venti~on and Controi, (Newsletter 78) the Hanover Insurance Co.,, Worcester, Mass:., said it is offering a five percent discount on homeowner policies for families of nonsmokers. The discount is effective,if the homeowner agrees to sign alstatement that no resident of the h~ousehol!d'has smoked in the last 12 months. SALEIOF CIGARETTES will be banned on the eight campuses and the adtninistra- tive headquarters of'the Los:Angeles Community College, said trustee Fred- ric A. Wyatt. He told the L.A. Times, "In view of'all the scientific evi- dence indicating health,hazards in connection with smoking, thi~s board goes on record establishingian active educational program relating to the hazards of smoking." One board member opposed the actioniandlsaid, "It is not our job to legislate in this area." He said if the board was act- ing in this area, they should include candy, gum„ and carbonated beverages in the prohibition. THOUGH MARRI'OTT'GAVE'UP', apparently the Quality Imn chain is: expand'i~ngiits no-smoking quartlers. Calling its experiment in the Los Angeles area aisuccess„ a spokesmanitold the L.A. Times that no-smoking rooms would be available at nine other locations. AT A WISCONSIN,LEGISL,ATIVE HEARING the state medical society opposed a bill to prohibit smoking in all hospitals and cli~nics.. Instead, the doc- tors supportedlsmoker-nonsmoker separation. THE CHAIRMAN of the Michigan State Medical Society's Committee on Alcohol and Drug Dependency, Dr. Richard C. Bates, said at a state meeting in Detroit that he wouldn't hire a person who smoked, especially in view of all the different compensation suits involving respiratory diseases which are begun by plant workers who blame their afflictions on,plant condition. U. S. News & World Report gave a half-page to information from a,recently released!Publilo Health,Service pub3!ication called, "If You Must Smoke."' "PHS officials state," the news magazi~ne said, "that the more you smoke,, the greater your risk of a heart attack."' i7.S.. News then went on to re- iterate tips offered by PHS physicians: Choose a cig,arette with less "tar" and nicotine; don't smoke alcigarette all the way down to the butt; take fewer draws; smoke less each day. NEW YORK TIMES headlilnedla long story, "Despite the Warnings,, Milli~ons Cani't,, or Won't Give Up Smoking." Times interviewed smokers at random who

ti -7- reported cigarettes to be relaxi~ngi. Some said they thought they look better when,they smok.e;, one said he looks more mature. Another was quoted saying, "I,would rather smoke than eat." The Times noted the increase in consumption of cigarettes in this country despite constant attacks. f NEW YORK CITY' AUTHORIiTIES broke up an alleged cigarette "bootlegging," ring that has reportedly cost the state and the ciity "hundreds of millions of,doTlars in state and city taxes," said the New York Times. The Times said five organized-crime figures were indicted and that they cheated the city out of $,3 million last year. A NEW LABOR AGREEMENT in New York, will serve only as "just one more arrow in the heart of honest merchants," according to: Morris Weintraub, managing director of the Wholesale Tobacco Distributors of New York. The agreement, which,calls for a pay increase for delivery truck drivers, will result in a two cent,per cigarette pack tax:increase, saidlWeintr:aub, warning that the price rise would give the underworld greater incentive to increase their already huge illegal cigarette trade:. A NEW'BOOK BY UBELL,, award-winning science writer and now NBC's director of tv news, New York,, is called "How to Save Your Life," and has a 21-page chapter about smoking. It"s largely a commercial for Horni's smoking-motil- vation test which,, depending on one's score, is supposed to be helpful in quittingi. It also repeats, as the author's own observations, the familiar smoker-nonsmoker mortality-morbidity statistics. As the foreword says, Horn read the chapter before publication. Excerpts: "When my wife,and'I have company, the one thing we dread is cleaning the ashtrays..."' "My strategy in getting them ((former associates at the Herald- Tribune) ), to stop was merely to assignithemito any and all cilga- rette stories'. The act of researchingiandiwritiingi the articles was enough to make all of them quit.,.,.That iis the same force that was at work, with, the one hundred thousand doctors who quit..." "Much:of the resistance to:the idea that cigarette-smoking causes death and disability is a result of the propagand4a of the cigarette makers.,..,They have made statistics the villain..." DIED: Paul Dudley White, 87,, widely pub='~icized cardiologist and' advocate of exercise and abstemious living, and member of the ASH board of directors. Nixon said he was "a model of:alL that is best in~American~medicine.," TI'S EARLE C., CLEMENTS was honored by his home town, Morganfield, in Kentucky's Union County, for his brilliant political career that includ'ed posts from county sheriff to Governor to U.S., Senator., Hundreds of people, including former governors and other sta:te offi~cials who worked with Cle- ments,, almost all the current Ky, delegation to Congress, family and friends flocked to Morganfield to help celebrate "Earle Clements Day."

-8- LTP4ION! COj7NTY' is stalwart Democratic territory. Not surprising, the Union, County Advocate ran anieditorial about Democrat Clements: "Ttirough: hils abili~ty to inspire, to motivate, to analyze and'take appropriate action,. he, as albuilder, has been a public figure who "made things happen."' The very next editorial in the same paper was an urging for Re- publican Sen. Cook to seek--andlvoters of both, parties to sup- port---Cook's reelection next year. LITERATUREIDISTRIBUTION is a principal task of The Tobacco Institute, to help inform interested,members of the public about the tobacco industry.. Every 60 d'ays a staff,inventory and distribution recap is prepared. Here are some distribution totals of interest, for September and October: Among the 16 booklets in the individual,state tobacco history and' economic series--6,00Q copiesr the "TObacco--Pioneer in American Industry" booklet--7,500 copies; the poster on tobacco from farm to market--5,200 copi~es;, "The Cigarette Controversy" pamphlet on smokiing-he:alth--750; and the "Facts About Tobacco" leaflet--2,900., :rl ^ ~ U ::- ' -; 0 I~