Tobacco Documents Online

f Greenslioro News g' Record, E id r ay; 5h 13 ep;, 11985 . Carter - ` attacks- fiobacco ,. Editoriatfakes aim, af healthimpaefs ` B'y LAWRENCE SPOHN~ " ' - staN Wrntar ~ " ` Former President Jimmy Carter,, ance tobacco's defender, has called for a cooperative effort among, doc- tcirs, health care professionals, edu- cators and' women's magazines to end the "unnecessary suffering" caused' by'smolang In an editorialI in this cueek's Jour- nal of' the Americanr :Vfedical Asso- ciation - the first' by a president, Carter cited, tobacco,alcoholy, unin- tended injuries and unintended pregnancies as the leading risk fac- tors for preventable d'eath and'ill- ness., Much of'the article - one.of three suggesting American health, policy "close the gap"' on unnecessary ill- xiess and death - was aimed direct'- ly at tobacco's.healthimpacts. " JuIia Hoye; & press aide at The Carter Centler, said the former president would not be available for questions, that "the article speaks for itself:" ; Efforts to reach a spokesman at ' The Tobacco Institute, the indus- try''s trade association, were unsuc-,: cessful. ZZ :.'.Reginald Lester, spokesman forr the Tobacco Growers I'nformatiion . Council in Raleighy, said Tliursd'ay, "The former chief erecuti'vee of' thee world's greatest democracy seems r 'tolhave forgotten this is a d'emocra- .~,-_r. '":J`°And the thing that makes it' so great is that people have the right' to choose their lifestyles and hab- its," Lester said'."'He apparently has joined the anti-tobacco, crowdi, which wants government by nan- °.y_1. 'Nlorth Carolina is the nation's leading tobacco and cigarette pro* dticing state. Tobacco's ledger in North Carolina is worth about S2' billioniannually, but'in the last twoo years its revered status has been 'increasinglychallenged, particularly by health and religious profession- als. ~ - ~ The Carter editorial is relatedl to another Journal article written by three doctors, including Assistant U:S.Surgeon GeneralWilliasn H. Foege. In the. article,' Foege details the investigations and' findings of'a na- tional heal'th, consultation group onn preventabl'e ill'ness and premature death. The group was organized by The Carter Center in 1984. Its fi.ndings, including id'entifying, tobacco "as the leading generic risk factor"'in preventable illness and death, committed, the Center. and - Carter -to aet' as a_promotier and ' mediator in addressing the sociai,, economic and politicall conflicts asso- ciated with preventable illness and' premature death. The center just concluded a na, tional symposium, on the tobacco d1- lemma, Hoye and others eonfirmed_. However, she said the symposium was not open to the press and no public details are available., The Carter Center'& interest in the tobacco dilemma was revealed in Raleigh last spring atl the N.C. Health Council's convocation, "Tobacco: A. Dilemma for N.C.. Health Workers."' In a convocation speech, Foege call'ed on thestat'e's>health workersto~ lead a nationalf crusade against smoking in1 conjunction with a politi- ea1 campaign to help the tobacco, farmer through, transition.I'n: his medical.iournall article this week, Foege writes, "tobacco is the leading single cause of premature death in the US population," is the `9eadi'ng carcinogen of man and ac- counts for the alarming rise of lung cancer in women," and' "causes more deat'h by circulatory diseases than by cancer •• He reported thatthe Carter Cen- ter study group recommendations inchide:, : - . • Making nonsmoking the social norm, and'' reduce aill opportunities for consumption of tobacco;, •Compensating victimsof' dis- eases caused by tobacco;~ • Exploring the moral dilernma posed by the continued productionn of tobacco for profit; • Neutralizing misleading tobacco advertising and increasing, public knowledge about the risks of'srnak- ing. -:~„~ ~, :...._ _4__-J-__-..:A= _.ire _. y In his editorial, Carter,writes, _, "'Most American teenagers begin, smoking because of peer pressure, , believing, they can, stop at any: time. They do not learn that cigarettes . are addictive until it is too late." El'sewhere,, Carter, charges, "Too many women are being vicitimized by tobacco advertising campaigns in wmmen's magazines. These. maga- zines shoul& inform their readers that because of increased smoking by' women, lung cancer is now 1dT1-_:- ing,more women than breast cancer. "Americans, who have legitimate concerns about asbestos, dioxin and nuclear reactors; need,to under- stand that the impact of'tokiacco is substantially greater,'''' Carter w-rites. _ The message is in, contrast to the one Carter delivered as the nation's 39th president in the summer of P9i& during, a visit to a tobaccoo warehouse inI Wilson. At the time his Secretary of Health Educaaion, and Welfare Joseph Califano was under_fire from Southern politicians _ and farmers for his, strong"anti- ' smolang views.. '~ After making several jokes about Califano - who: a year, later wouid be firedl partly over his strident an- ~J ti-tobacco stanee, Carter proclaimed- his deep committment to a "fine to- bacco program;"'as well as his inter- est in the health-of Americi~" That day,~Carter said the tobac- ~ 'co industry, farmers. and_ the gov-_ ernment.`.'w'ant to have an: accurate `; and an enlightened educationi pro-.4_ grami and research progt~am to make=- the smoking of, tobacco even_more?' ~, safe than_it is today:" Carter's Journal article`dnes not~ discuss his role in.the tobacco issueW as ~ president, nor,,.does it'-suggest ~ how~ to cushion the- economic iinpact.; ~ of reducing, smoking on the nation or, ~ ~ heavily dependent tobaeco states, like North Carolina:: .~..:.~.. .

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