Tobacco Documents Online

I Congressional Conference Committee retains tobacco in the PL 4'80 program. August: FTCagain urges Congress to strengthen the cigarette war ng label. It also recommends that all "tar" and nicotine leveLs be printed on packages and that "little cigars" be required to carry the warning label. The CAB agrees to review the Eastern Airlines smokers' segregation decision which sets aside 65 percent of its seats for nonsmokers. Without that review, the policy would become effective August 19 September: FAA denies a Nader health group petition to ban smok- ing in airplane cockpits and prohibit flight crews from smoking during the hours prior to flight. October: HEW Sec. Califano orders the removal of ashtrays from HEW conference rooms and the posting of no-smoking signs in these areas and~elevators. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Commission votes to ask the agency to regulate cigarette filters as medical devices, asserting,that ads imply health claims. The Richmond!Memo leaks to the press. Written by Surgeon General Julius Richmond, it enumerates plans for HEW's anti-smoking program. Recommendations include: 1) establishing a "no-smoking" day, 2) gradually ending the federal tobacco program, 3) social welfare programs to ease the losses of small tobacco farmers, 4) tax cigarette advertisements 5) a new Surgeon General report on smoking and health, to be made a "media event," 6) prohibi- . tion of cigarette sales in HEW buildings, 7) increase anti- smoking ads, maybe allowing low "tar" cigarette ads on tele- vision~, 8) strengthening the package warning, 9) increasing the federal cigarette tax, 10) granting time off work for stop smoking programs; the government would help cover costs. November: Dr. Peter Bourne, Pres. Carter's special assistant o~r health~, speaks to the American Cancer Society's Ad-Hoc Committee on Tobacco and Smoking Research. He says, "no matter how much~we may favor prohibition of tobacco products, we are three hundred years too late....The bulk of our research dollarss should be expended on the acquisition of basic knowledge rather than in search of an effective 'cure.'" After much criticism of Richmond's proposal to end the tobacco price support program, Califano tells the press that he will not "tilt at that windmill." December: CAB instructs its staff to draft an order banning cigar and pipe smoking on commercial airlines. 03'74515'7 HEta submits the 1976 "Health Consequences of Smoking" to Congress; it is identical to the 1975 report. FDA denies a petition by ASH to regulate cigarettes as a drug.

-12 1978: January: HEW Sec. Califano announces his anti-smoking campaign on an. 11, the 14th anniversary of the Surgeon General's report. Declaring cigarette smoking "public enemy number one," his program includes: o A "no-smoking" policy in all HEW buildings, except in designated areas, o Writing letters to the General Services Administration and the nation's top 50&executives, urging them to impose similar smoking restrictions in their buildings, o Urging smoking bans on all commercial aircrafts, o Writing governors of the 22 states without "clean air laws," asking them to implement this legislation, o Asking insurance companies to give lower rates to non- smokers, , o Directing NIOSH to increase its efforts to develop standards for restricting smoking in hazardous settings, o Ordering research into: 1) a less hazardous cigarette, 2) passive smoking, 3) persons at high risk 4) reasons people smoke, 5) smoking dependence, 6) ways to overcome smoking "addiction," o Changing the National Clearinghouse on Smoking and Health to the Office on Smoking and Health, located in Washing- ton, o~ Ordering a new Surgeon General's report on smoking andhealth; scheduled for publication the following January, o Considering strengthening the warning label on cigarette packages, adding "tar,"'nicotine, and carbon monoxide levels. Also recommending the establishment of a maximum "tar" and nicotine levels. o Asking the Treasury to consider whether higher cigarette taxes would discourage smoking, o Asking broadcasters to increase time alloted for anti- smoking public service announcements. President Carter, when asked~if the White House staff would set an example by not smoking replies, "No, sir." He says it is not Califano's "responsibility to:tell a particular American citizen whether they can or cannot smoke." He adds that it is Califano's responsibility to point out "that smoking is a danger to health." February: FDA announces that effective April 3, birth control pill pac ages will contain a warning that women who use the pill should not smoke. 03'745158 The Carter Administration budget calls for a more than $5 million cut in agricultural production research, including $3.3 million for tobacco.

-13- March~: North Carolina Gov. James Hunt and Sen. Robert Morgan meet with Pres. Carter to discuss the tobacco program and HEW's anti-smoking campaign. Carter reiterates his "strong support" for the toba-cco price support system. A.ril: Califano defends his proposed $30 million anti-smoking campaign as an educational program~to protect teens from the tobacco industry's "sinister campaign" of brand advertising to encourage people to smoke. FTC and HEW establish a task force to study newspaper cigarette ads to determine if they are deceptive. FDA birth~control pill warning goes into effect. It states: "Cigarette smoking increases the risk of serious adverse effects on the heart and blood vessels from oral contraceptive use. This risk increases with age and heavy smoking and is quite marked in women over 35 years of age. Women who use oral contraceptives should not smoke." May: HEW and FTC'urge the FCC to reconsider its decision requiring broadcasters to schedule more public service announce- ments during prime time, especially in the campaign to "better inform the public on the health dangers of smoking.^ The Department of Defense (DoD) asks the Armed'Services to sponsor educational programs toldiscourage smoking among employees exposed to asbestos. The House rejects an amendment to eliminate tobacco from PL 480. FTC announces that test results of cigarette carbon monoxide levels will be published in early 1979. Sen. Kennedy introduces the "National Disease Prevention and Health.Promotion Act of 1978." The bill restricts smoking in public buildings, applies a graduated cigarette tax based on "tar" levels, alternates package warnings, calls for a "major federal initiative11 to prevent children from smoking, and asks HEW to report within two years on'low "tar" and nicotine strat- egies. The Senate increases appropriations for HEW's Office on Smoking and Health from the requested $6.1 million to $20 million. June: Rep. Rogers (D-Fla.) announces a proposed plan to bar the Surgeon General from providing cigarettes to individuals in Public Health Service hospitals. 03'745159 The House restores $3.3 million for tobacco production research, eliminated from the Administration's budget proposal.

..1 -14- J_uly: The General Services Administration denies a request to prohibit smoking in federal buildings. Au ust: HEW releases its 1977-78 "Health Consequences of Smoking." It claims hazards of smoking to the nonsmoker along with excep- tional dangers to women who smoke. Califano writes to the CAB, urging a ban of all smoking on domes- tic commercial airlines. President Carter visits Wilson, NC and renews his commitment to the tobacco price support program. Surgeon General Julius Richmond denounces the study by Dr. Gio Gori and Cornelius Lynch which claims that specific amounts of some cigarettes can be smoked "without apparent risk." Joining Richmond in condemning the findings are Drs. Arthur Upton of the National Cancer Institute and Robert Levy of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. . September: HEW launches a public awareness program about health hazardsassociated with asbestos; smoking is included among the asserted risks. The General Services Administration proposes smoking restrictions for 10,000 federal buildings which it rents or owns. Proposals require cafeterias to have nonsmoking sections while smoking is banned from conference rooms, auditoriums, classrooms, and shuttle vehicles. October: Footnotes to the text of a Congressional hearing re- veal that HEW's Office on Smoking and Health monitored at least 25&television stations to determine whether and how often they broadcast anti-smoking announcements. Congress appropriates $4.6 million for smoking and health "edu- cation"; the funds are divided between the National Institute of Environmental Health and National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Congress passes the "Public Health Services Act," requiring study of the health risks of cigarette additives and varying amounts of "tar," nicotine, and carbon monoxide. It also appropriates $30 inillion, beginning in FY 1980, toward biomedical and'behaviorial studies of youths' smoking and alcohol use. 03'745160 HEW Secretary Califano announces an anti-smoking campaign aimed at children. The program, located in New Jersey, is boosted by a $2.38 million federal grant. November: Social Security Administration announces revision of its o ing policies, banning smoking in common work areas if

_15- employees complain and trying to, "within practical limits," separate the offices of smokers and nonsmokers. The Admini- stration will also allow its workers time to attend stop-smoking clinics. December: HEW Secretary Califano orders the Center for Disease Control, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the Labor Department to develop safety standards for workers who smoke and are exposed to industrial hazards. In speeches to the American Cancer Society and the National Press Club Califano attacks cigarette advertising as deceiving young people. 1979: Januar : Surgeon General Julius Richmond issues a 1,200 page, 250,000 report on smoking and health. The book reiterates much of the 1964 report. HEW Sec. Califano writes in the foreword, "This docurnent...demolishes the claims made by cigarette manu- facturers and a few others fifteen years ago and today: that the scientific evidence is sketchy; that no link between smoking and, cancer was 'proven.' Those claims, empty then, are utterly vacuous now." New conclusions in the '79 report maintain that 1) smoking is a major contributor to coronary heart disease, 2) women who smoke develop lung disease just as men who smoke, 3) certain occupations, such as asbestos or textiles, pose greater risks to workers who smoke, 4) smoking is causally related to cancers of the larynx, esophagus, and~mouth, and 5) maternal smoking harms the'unborn child. The report also deals with smoking among children and adolescents. The Tobacco Institute 1776 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C'. 20006 January, 19 79'