Tobacco Documents Online

THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE 1875 I STREET, NORTHWEST SAMUEL D. CHILCOTE, JR. WASHINGTON. DC 20006 President 202/457-4800 • 800/424-9876 January 7, 1993 ME1riORANDUM TO: The Members of the Executive Committee FROM: Samuel D. Chilcote, Jr. Describing the Environmental Protection Agency's risk assessment of environmental tobacco smoke as "an example of EPA's commitment to sound science" and a "firm foundation" for policy development, EPA Administrator William Reilly today released the final version of the Agency's report classifying ETS as a Group A carcinogen, a cause of lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and a cause of respiratory illnesses in children. Reilly released the risk assessment at a press conference held jointly with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan, who announced details of a new public relations campaign focusing specifically on the ETS issue. The campaign, to be sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), will consist of print advertisements, public service announcements which Sullivan aired during the press conference, and a new brochure entitled "It's Time to Stop Being a Passive Victim." Copies of EPA and HHS materials from the press conference and available materials from CDC are enclosed. Your representatives on the EPA/OSHA Task Force are receiving with their copies of this mailing full copies of the final ETS risk assessment. Please let us know if you would like additional copies: Media interest in the risk assessment's release, as reported previously, has been heavy throughout the week. Today's news conference was attended by ABC-TV, CBS-TV, Conus Communications, Fox-TV, the Associated Press, the New York Times and other, smaller outlets. The Institute's spokespersons spoke with news organizations following the EPA briefing and will appear opposite EPA's Eric Bretthauer on this evening's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. During the news conference, Reilly stated that ETS "has now been shown conclusively" to increase the risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and the risk of respiratory illnesses in children. He described the lung cancer risk from ETS as 1 in 1000 overall, with risks of up to 2 in 1000 among adults exposed to ETS in the home. He also expressed the hope that the risk assessment "will become the scientific basis" for an Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard restricting smoking in the workplace.

The Members of the Executive Committee January 7, 1993 Page 2 Sullivan was effusive in his praise for the risk assessment, describing it as "one of the most stunning health reports ever" and "a watershed" in the public smoking controversy. Sullivan said anti-smoking efforts in response to the report should focus on severe workplace and public smoking restrictions, establishment of tobacco-free zones in schools and educational efforts to reduce by half the number of children living in households with parents who smoke. Following the prepared statements, several reporters asked questions that likely were prompted by discussions at yesterday's briefing by tobacco industry officials. Questions addressed EPA's use of a 90 versus 95 percent confidence interval in calculating the ETS risk and the Agency's failure to include the recent Brownson study reporting no relationship between ETS and lung cancer. In a rather garbled defense of the report's statistical technique, Reilly finally stated simply that the Agency's scientific advisors had recommended the procedure. On the question of the Brownson study, Reilly and Sullivan stated that in their view, the results essentially were positive. Several reporters also questioned Reilly on EPA's decision not to pursue a review of ETS and heart disease originally intended for publication as part of the ETS Compendium. Reilly responded that Agency staff "were not confident that the report would withstand peer review," but he added that heart disease claims might be examined at some point in the future. The "constituent briefing" following the press conference was conducted by three EPA officials, including risk assessment project manager Steven Bayard, an official from the Science Advisory Board and a representative of the HHS Office on Smoking and Health. Questions from industry scientific consultants dominated the briefing, addressing HHS claims of lung cancer risk from workplace smoking; EPA's failure to consider the Brownson study in the final draft of the risk assessment; EPA's use of 90 versus 95 percent confidence intervals in its risk calculation; and the Agency's failure adequately to consider potential confounding factors in the ETS-lung cancer research. EPA officials made no concessions on any of the scientific issues raised, despite repeated follow-ups from the scientists. A number of anti-smoking organizations were represented at today's press conference and constituent briefing. Meanwhile, the Coalition on Smoking OR Health took advantage of EPA activity to release its 1993 "Framework for Public Policy Activities." The report's recommendations include legislation to increase the

The Members of the Executive Committee January 7, 1993 Page 3 tobacco excise tax, to require Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco products and to ban smoking in the workplace. In a press release today, the Coalition also called on President Bush to sign an Executive Order banning smoking in federal buildings. Copies of the Coalition's report and press releases are enclosed. Enclosures SCD:ktp cc: The Members of the Management Committee The Members of the EPA/OSHA Task Force TI Senior Staff