Tobacco Documents Online

Dear Dr. Garb: Your letter of September 20 indicates that your ud ents ~ny w.~r4+ bs' . about cancer causation are quite differenc than sELae. This does not mean, however, that we need to differ on~the matter of support for a sound national cancer program. Those who have suggested to you that the tobacco industry has attacked such a'_ ~ program are quite wrong. /~e',~. r~teQl Tobacco smoking, of course, has been^a'~soci ated with the inci3ence of certain types of cancers. It has also been Q/lsdcoL~v Ie associated with other illnesses. Early reports of such associations pf .v~ A-t L.6d~..7~+%Q Al eatI y Aj prompted my company and its competitors to ~ss~ funds~ year /s A ago to support independent research aimed'at clarifications of these reported associations. We are very proud of the fact that this effort long antedated the first Surgeon General's report on smoking and health and the government's "war on cancer," and the_ aws.: : .in~uz?`rr ~ . : . L fact that aur f roaches $75 mill . .- ,..~ You correct i nt our plans 1 and attitudes as reported to you, . We have not A been, for example, in a position to know whether the National Cancer Institute has mismanaged its assignment. On the other hand,, we certainly are aware of suggestions from various sources that this is the case and we are equally aware of suggestions that r

Our view of the American Cancer Society is, of course, s,n et,.e lr believe ii%-~ ~1 that the organization somewhat different. We ^ has ill-servedthe public in its premature judgments about tobacco smoking, its politicization of the scientific controversy about tobacco and, on occasion, its misrepresentation of actual research results in the smoking and health field. We believe further that these activities have diminished rather than fostered: incentives and support for essential research in this field. We have never hesitated to express these beliefs to anyone. In clo"sing, let me compliment you on your particular interest in additional red"~ch on more effective and less toxic anticancer_ drugs. It seems impossible that anyone could dispute that aim. e