Tobacco Documents Online

93 1771 N Srucrr, N. 14„ lt,,~rauXurun, 1). C. 00020, uua-oaoo NATIOrA1. A58c)C:IATIOf: UV I31:c)AIlcAs•rl;;t:; The Honorable Joseph A. Califano, Jr. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Washington, ll:C. 20201 Pebi•uary 1, 1978 My dear Mr. Secretary: Thank you for your letter of January 14, agency Council on Smoking and Health. and for the copy of your speech at the National Inter- At the time of your speech and prior to I ~. membership:, receiving your letter on January 23, I stated to our "We share Secretary Califano's concern relative to the dtirigcr of smoking to the public health and will cooperate fully in conveying,that concern to our members. However, the selection of public service announcements for broadcast is the sole prerogative of the individual broadcaster. NAB has never attempted to dictate that decision and we would strongly oppose any efforts by the FCC to require stations to broadcast any specific -- including anti-smoking -- messages. "I would be rcmiss if I did not point out that broadcasters carried many, many anti-smoking messages when we were allowed to advertise what still remains a legal product, namely, cigarettes. Since that time, the government has precluded cigarette advertising on radio and television and, as we predicted, cigarette consump- tion has gone up. I

94 "The government has continuucl itso t.ohucco subsid'a•~ to farnmcrs and iLs allocntion for foreign a0ea•tisin, of cigarettes. Now it ashc broaclc;ihtcrs, in thc face of tremcnclousll• incrc•ascd revcnuvs in ncwshnhc•rs anc] magazine publishcrs frorr cigarette adVc1•tisino, tc ba{1 it out of its present dilcr„rin. °' "We have difficulty cntderstancling it " Since that time, I Itat•c• lcnrned ti at. t: e'~ government al]ocati.on for foi'cirr aclccrtisin^ ncoprd around ]975, bnet expcnclitures cont'inuc fcri toL+acco cx^:~ promotion. Your statcmcut, as you know, has reeei:•ed, tridcspread publicity in the media, and L an-confident that the American public tsill"convinue to hc adriscc]'~ oF~ hazards to public ]toalth in eonnection t:ith,=^el:inc e•.er` radio and television stat,ions. ln fact scnd' in trutlii find it hard to imagine anyone who is not about the situation at tho present time. . Incidcntalll', I stol+pccl, smo]•i'ng; -:oi•e ten years ago, having been a four pack a day man. Sincercll•, VT1V : m, ti.cn [