Tobacco Documents Online

LEVEL 2 - 7 OF 43 STORIES . Copyright 1993 America.n Broadcastin_g Companles, Inc..~ All rlghts reserved ABC NEWS. SHOW: ABC World News Tonlght 6:30 pm ET November I0, 1993 Transcript # 3224-8 TYPE: Package SECTION: News LENGTH: 556 words HEADLINE: North Carolina and Anti-Smoking Laws BODY: PETER JENNINGS: We've another medical report tonight on the dangers of smoking. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says that in 1990, tobacco was the biggest underlying cause of death in the United States, responsible for 400,000 deaths. By underlying, they mean going beyond the immediate illnesses such as cancer or heart disease to find out why people became sick in the first place. Tobacco, said the researchers, caused more deaths than drugs, guns, risky sex and auto accidents combined. Well, there does seem to be a growing public acceptance of the fact that smoking is deadly. The sentiment, however, is only beginning to catch on in tobacco country itself. ABC's A1 Dale is in North Carolina. AL DALE, ABC News: [voice-over] In much of North Carolina, smoking is not just tolerated, it is appreciated - 400,000 jobs depend on tobacco, the state's number one cash crop. And efforts to restrict smoking often meet with undisguised hostility. Ist NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: Tobacco pays my bills. restaurant that you could not smoke at. I would not go to a AL DALE: I look around, I don't see a 'No Smoking' section. 2nd NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: We have one. It's outside. AL DALE: [voice-over] But in the past few months, things have begun to change. More than half of the state's i00 counties have adopted some form of smoking restrictions, forcing people outside to indulge their habit. The flurry of regulations resulted from a new state law. [on camera] This summer, the state legislature passed a relatively mild smoking law that in effect guaranteed smokers at least 20 percent of the space in all public buildings. But the state left the door open for local governments to go further in protecting non- smokers from secondhand smoke. T!159909'99

PACE 4 ABC World News Tonight, November I0, 1993 [voice-over] In Greensboro, where the Lorillard Tobacco Company's a major employer, the county health department adopted rules that will ban smoking in public places by the end of next year. That outraged many people, including county commissioners, who say they will replace anti-smoking members of the health board. JOE WOOD, County Commissioner: The health board failed to look at this from an economic standpoint, as well as a public health standpoint. AL DALE: [voice-over] So it's likely that the regulations will be rescinded before going into effect. That would please a lot of people here who say smoking is not harmful. RADIO CALLER: I don't believe the secondhand smoke stuff. BRAD KRANTZ, Talk Show Host: You Welcome to North Carolina, where opinion. don't believe it? Welcome to North Carolina. lung cancer is not a medical fact, it's an AL DALE: [voice-over] But all across the state, even diehard smokers admit that restrictions are coming, but not without a fight. A1 Dale, ABC News, Greensboro, North Carolina. PETER JENNINGS: In a moment, we'll return to the debate - the Perot-Gore debate - how the White House used Mr. Perot's own tactics to take him on. [Commercial break] The preceding text has been professionally transcribed. However, although the text has been checked against an audio track, in order to meet rigid distribution and transmission deadlines, it has not yet been proofread against videotape. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE-MDC: November ii, 1993 T!15991000