Tobacco Documents Online

Lying for a Li, ing By Jacob Sullum Thank You for Smoking, by Christopher Buckley, New York: Random House, 272 pages, $22.00 ON TI~ ~ P.~C~ OF TRrANK YOU <or Smoking, we get a descrip- tlon of the evil committed by to- bacco companies. A speaker at the Clean Lungs 2000 conference is in the middle of introducing Nick Naylor, chief spokes- man for the Academy of Tobacco Stud- ies." Tm certain that our next...paneList,' the speaker hesitated, the word just too neutral to describe a man who earned his living by killing 1,200 human beings a day. Twelve hundred people--twojumbo jet planeloads a day of men, women, and children. Yes, innocent children, denied their bright futures....Lambs, slaughtered by Nicholas Naylor and the tobacco in- dustry fiends he so sliel'dy represented. More than 400,000 a year! And approach- ing the half-million mark. Genocide, that's what it was., 2' A bit exaggerated, to be sure, but not much different from the rhetoric of anti- smoking activists (or "gaspers," as Nick calls them). Christopher Buckley, a Wash- Chrislopher Buckley: The tobacco induslry's maln sin ~ mendacity, not murder. ington journalist and ex-smoker, appreci- ates the absurdity of such fulminations, and much of this satiric novel (his fourth) pokes fun at the sanctimony of the anti- smoking movement. The tobacco indus- try is so besieged by self-righteous pater- nalists lately that even readers who are in- clined to sympathize with the gaspers NOVEMBER 1994 ym~oZ-if,23

II I I BOOKS ~'ill find themselves rcoting for NicL weasel though he il. For Bucldey (and, uItimate- ly, Nick), the main sin of the tobacco induslry seems to be mendacity, not murder. He has a good time lampooning the sort of evasion and misdirec- tion we have come to expect from representatives of the to- bacco industry as they attempt to brash off the suggestion that smoking causes lung cancer or that cigarettes are addictive. Nick, a "puffer" himself, is quick to observe that it's im- possible to prove in any given case that smoking caused someone's illness, and he is not above inventing claims out of whole cloth (such as "the report that just came out showing that tobacco smoke is replac- ing the ozone that has been lost due to chlorofluorocarbous'). In general, the tobacco industry de- serves the lreatment it gets in Thank You for Smoking. Whether or not they go as far as Nick Naylor, cigarette makers are certainly less than candid about the nature of their product and the risks of using it. But their lies are ridiculous precisely be- cause no one believes them. Indeed, no one is expected to. The tobacco compa- ales refuse to acknowledge the unpleas- ant facts about cigarettes not because they hope to fool consumers but because they are afraid that admitting the hazards of smoking ~vould make them more vulner- able to product-liability suits. Yet what- ever legal advantage the industry has gained by continuing to deny the obvious is more than outweighed by its complete loss of credibility in the public debate over smoking. Nick recognizes this fact, and he wishes the Academy could be straightfor- ward about health risks. When a powerful senator protx~ses a law that would require a large skull and cross bones on every package of cigarettes (osten_~ibly to reach illiterates and immigrants who haven't learned English yet), Niek imagines that the industry might take the opportunity to come clean. His im~ir-~oa is Death ciga- rettes. "Nick lmew all about Death ciga- rettes," Buckley writes. "Everyone at the Academy kept a pack, with its distinctive skull and bones logo, despite the fact that the industry's official attitude toward Deaths was not exactly collegial. It was the perfect cigarette for the cynical age. It said--shouted---our product will kill you! What product advertised itself more hon- estly than that?" THI~ INTERES~NG THING ABOUT DEaTh cigarettes is that they really exist, and the gaspers hate them. Rather than ap- plaud the merchants of Death for their honesty, anti-smoking activists and pub- lie-health officials are appalled by what they see as an attempt to capitalize on ma- cho attitudes. They don't want truth in ad- vertising. They want to get rid of ciga- rettes, period. But most Americans would probably look upon the tobacco indus,, more fa- vorably if cigarette companies simply said, "Look, smoking is risky. So are a lot of things Rat give people pleasure. Smok- ing may take a few years offyour life. But that's a price many people are ~qlling to pay." Then tobacco companies would be in the same position as manufacturers of motorcycles, swimming pools, scuba equipment, skis, hang gliders, roller skates, cmd fatty t'~cds. You don't hear ski make= say, "We recognize that the use of our prc<luct is statistically associated with fraztures, and we are prepared to call sid- ing a risk factor. Bat '~e j,.ut dnn't think the causal lb3: has teen Froven with certainty." On the other hdad, as Buck- ley makes dear, Iruth is not an adequate defense against pater- nalists. Even businesses that are honest about the risks asso- ciated with their products have to worry about legislative as- saults. Nick seeks comfort in weeldy lunches at a Washing- ton restaurant with two friends who work for the alcohol and firearms industries. Since they are known as Merchants of Death, they call themselves the MOD Squad. Their meetings illustrate the frustration of constantly being on the de- fensive, of always having to justify how you make your living. Whenever a drunk plows into a little old lady, the alcohol spokeswoman is expected to respond. Whanever a nut goes on a rampage with a gun, the firearms spokesman has to i~sue a press release. And this is really the way Washington works, with unfortunate inci- dents and gory stories taking the place of arguments and evidence, Buekley is also right on target in his depiction of the news media, from the va- cuity of supposedly serious talk shows to the routine deception and betrayal prac- ticed by successful newspaper reporters. At one point Nick calls a newspaper to complain about the headline over a story about a death threat he received while ap- pearing on Larry King Live ("CALLER TO t'dNG SHOW THREATENS TO STUB OUT TOBACCO SPOKESMAN"). He is greeted by a voice-mail message: "You have reached the Washington Sun's om- budsman desk. If you feel you have been inaccurately quoted, press one. If you spoke to a reporter oft" the record but were identified in the article, press two. If you spoke on deep background but were iden- tified, press three. If yor~ were quoted curately but feel that the reporter missed the larger point, press four. If you are a coniidential White House source and are calling to-alert your reporter that the Presider is furiem over lea.~t-~ ar, d ha3 doted a review of all outgoing coil3 in i!3623-!924

BOOKS White House phone logs, press five." As that bit suggests, Buckley cannot resist going over the top for a laugh, But despite a cloak-and-dagger.plot that in- volves kidnapping and attempted murder, most of the book rings true: the anti-smok- ing rhetoric, the tobacco industry's tactics, the maneuvering that always avoids the central issue. Buekley seems ambivalent about the whole mess, one reason that people on both sides of the debate about smoking will enjoy reading this book. The other reason, of course, is that Buckley is funny, and a ~ense of humor (and perspec- five) is sorely needed as we head toward the final showdown between the gaspers and the ptff-fer~. ~ Contributing Editor Jacob Sttllum is articles editor at National Review. T!3~23-!925