Tobacco Documents Online

doesn't hurt n'on-smol~ers By ED RYAN - ' cwri..~ w.rn.t snn wjfrw WASHINGTON - A pathologist came from Pittsburgh. An anthropologist came from the Harvard Medical School. ------- A medical researc5er came (mm Indi- ana Umverslty. . They were Jolned by professors from ~Ganada, California and other tar-flung. locales les yesterday to teli members of the the House tobacco subcommittee what they wanted to hear. Tobacco smoke is not harmful to non- smokers.. ..... ... . .......-. - .. ' This news - unrefuted In more t5an three hours of te_stimony-was greeted . gleefully at the Tobacco InsttC.rte, the - trade association that represenis the na- tion's majorctgarette munufacturets. Horace R. Komegay president of the Tobacco Institute. Issued this prepared statementafter sitting through thehear- in6s: "C.ongrrss has flnally beard what so many of us have been convinced of for a long'tlme - that tobacco smoke has not beenshown to cause d_is_ease_ in p_e_o_- ple who do not smoke.- "At tong last, thanks to the hearings by the tobacco subcommitte_e of the United- States- Congress on- Thursday. SepL •,T,;,the Americann people have. heard the facts_" - . . . • At mid-afternoon yesterday, the To- bacco Institute sent out bulky-packets to the media around town• with the full tesiimony, as well as summaries of the te,stimony, from each witness, an InsU- lute precs release and its comments.~ -' However, the, U.S. Office of Smoking. and Health didn't bear of the toba.co• subcommittee hearing until WednesJay.: None of Its repre•sentatives, nor any; U.S. public health officers, was asked to testify or to present wttnesses, accord- ing to John Pinney, director of the of- fice.. "We would have suggested.a number, 4 99<S64000t Testimony not dispute of researchers to testify on the subject," sald Pinney. A spokesman for the U.S surgeon general said late yesterday that "there are slgnlficant medical implicatiori,v in the breathing of cigarette smoke by non-smokers" who have chronic lung . `_disease and other respiratory problenu: • ~ The spokesman also said the Depart-'-. ment of Health, Education and Welfare . wasnYasked to appear at the subcom- mittee hearing. - Rep. Walter B. Jones, D•N.C., Is chair- n manof the tobacco suMcommittee, which_ is composed of seven tobacco- : state congressmen and one member'Jfrom Kansas. Rep. John Breckinridge, - D-Fitn District, Is the onlyKentticklan on the subcommittee. In an opening statement at the hear- . _Ing. Jones pointedly thanked Korne&ay for the Tobacco Institute pre, tdent's --"advice and assislance•' in putting-to- - gether a Il.st of witncn5ta. - ' (A Tobacco Institute spokestnan later: '. said Kornegay was only Involved in pro-;; vlding the name of onewitnesa.) --- Jones noted that HEW Secretary Jo- seph Eatlfano Jr. has been talking about- protecting "the rights of the nod-smok• ing majority." Also, he went on, severui-- states and localities have adopted regu- lations lations to restrict smoking. _ "It looks like public concern is grow-ing-on the question of whether tobacco smoke such as that around the back of this (hearing) room right now is hamr_ 'ful to persons who do not choose to smoke,' Jones said. ' Many of those who watched the hear -fnE•S yesterday were IobbytsU lrom the Tobacco Institute or representatives of -the tobacco industry. . -" At the last minute, the Office of Smoking and Health sent one represen- tative-to observe. The one witaes.s that the Tobacco In-.- r. sfitute said Kornegay recommended was Dr. Sherwin 1. Feinhandler, the Harvard anthropologist, who urged "caution and dellber3tion° by the gov- ernment in regulating smokers' behav- lor. Felnhandler described the govern- ment's anti-smoking tnitiatlve as anti-so- cial. .. . .. Other testimony Included that of Dr. Edw1n Fisher, the Pittsburgh pathologist who said public smoking restrictions are unjustified. Fisher said his review of sctent3flc lit- erature on the issue shows a lack of Information "which would allow me to conclude that atmospheric tobacco smoke or its constituents represent a_ health harard In non-€mokers." - - - Dr..Theodor. Sterling, a Canadtan en-l vironmental scientlst, testified that to- bacco smoke Is "a minor and often in- significant contributor" to air contamin- ants. Dr. Suzanne B. Knoebel, tLe ~p` f' - Universlty medical researcbe~,''~_`1d_ subcommittee there is no proof that at- mospheric tobacco smoke can cause cir- culatory culatory Illness among non-smokers. She called the rationale for tncreas- Ing studies to determine such a condi- tion "so weak as to be considered frivo• lous." At the conclusion of the hearlog, Rep. Jones noted that much of the testimony represented "unassailable scientific . facts" aMut the absence of harmful ef- fects of tobacco smoke on the non7mok- er. Kornegay, a former North Carolina congressman, emphasized that "this evi- dence should provide some connnon sense to the controversy ... It ::hould put an end to efforts to make smokers sociat outcasts.» At the Office of Smoking and Hcalth. Pinney noted-that ' this is a very com-x ptex question that can't be handled with altnc s° a one-day bearing and nine