Tobacco Documents Online

, 2 To help achieve these goals, my Department's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching a new, multimedia public information program designed to inform the public about the specific hazards of exposure to secondhand smoke and to stir people to action. You have samples of our print advertisements in your press packets, and now I would like to share with you three television commercials that the CDC will be distributing nationally beginning now and over the coming months. The CDC campaign also features an action guide for the public, entitled "Stop Being a Passive Victim." It explains secondhand smoke and its health hazards, and suggests ways for individuals to help promote smoke-free homes, workplaces, and communities. People may request copies by calling CDC's toll- free hotline -- 1-800-CDC-1311. The tobacco industry can be expected to try, at every turn, to question the credibility of today's report. But EPA's work stands proudly as one of the most studied health reports ever. Its conclusions were maintained and even strengthened during the many arduous months of review and debate. Now it is time for our public officeholders of both parties to likewise withstand the pressure of the tobacco industry to water down or defeat anti-smoking legislation -- pressure fueled by millions of dollars in political contributions and additional funds to support so-called "smokers rights" campaigns. Quite simply, if the concern expressed by our officeholders for the health and well-being of their constituents is to be considered genuine, then they cannot allow the tobacco industry to influence their decisions on issues of such vital importance as the health and survival of our citizens -- particularly our children. Over the past four years, I have said many times that if there was only one thing we could do as a nation to improve the health of our citizens and decrease the incidence of preventable disease and death, it would be to achieve a tobacco-free society. I believe that we have made significant progress toward that goal. Today's report will help Americans to understand more clearly the dangerous relationship between smoking and health. Thank you.

FOR RELEASE UPON DELIVERY THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1993 *REMARKS BY LOUIS W. SULLIVAN, M.D. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES EPA PRESS CONFERENCE WASHINGTON, D.C. *THIS TEXT IS THE BASIS OF SECRETARY SULLIVAN'S ORAL REMARKS. IT SHOULD BE USED WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT SOME MATERIAL MAY BE ADDED OR OMITTED DURING PRESENTATION.

I 1 Good morning. I'm very pleased to be here for the release of this report. I want to congratulate Administrator Bill Reilly, and the EPA staff who have done the work. I also want to thank all those in my own Department who have worked over the years to conduct the sound and careful scientific study which has demonstrated the serious health consequences of tobacco use. The findings of this report represent a watershed. In a very important way, they tip the scales further on smoking and health. They show that the smoker is not merely imperiling his or her own health. Rather, smoking is shown to be a health hazard for others as well, especially for children -- and most particularly for the youngest and most vulnerable of our children. To me, the meaning of this report is simple and clear: it is time for Americans who smoke to make the choice to stop smoking and, in particular, it is irresponsible for smokers to expose young children to the health consequences of their addiction. Bill Reilly has already highlighted the serious respiratory problems that secondhand smoke creates for children. But alarming new information has come to our attention concerning the effects of secondhand smoke on infants. A major study by our National Center for Health Statistics, too recent to be considered by EPA, found that infants are three times more likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) if their mothers smoked during and after pregnancy. And infants are twice as likely to die of SIDS if their mothers stopped smoking during pregnancy, but resumed following birth. our children have no control over the conditions under which they live, attend school, or frequent public places. Therefore, parents, school officials, business owners, public health policy makers -- indeed, all of us -- bear a special responsibility to protect our children from this menace to their health and well- being. The Department of Health and Human Services, joined by hundreds of public health officials nationally, has adopted goals regarding secondhand smoke to be achieved by the year 2000. These include reducing by half the percentage of children living in a home with one or more smokers; establishing tobacco-free environments in gU elementary, middle, and secondary schools; OD and passing clean indoor air laws in all states that prohibit or ~ strictly limit smoking in the workplace and in enclosed public ~ places. N N 07 %J