Tobacco Documents Online

t SMOKING DECLINBS BY TINY FRACTION Figures Show.28% Drop in Cigarette Use in U.S. WASHINGTON, Aug, 23 (AP). '-For only the second time since the 1964'. Surgeom Generalig re- port linked the use of tobacco to cancer and other diseases, I there has been a decline in ciga- rette smoking, according to Government statistics. The Internal Revenue Serv- ice relbased todayfigures show- ing Americans smoked 543.5 billion cigarettes in the fiscal year that ended last June 30, compared with 545.1 billion in 19S7. Although the -.28 per cent drop was tiny, the decline in- t.errupted a steadily growing in- rease in the use of tobacco in the United States since the ini- tiai fall following the Surgeon General's report four years ago. While the earlier drop was clearly linked to the cancer scare„ there was nothing in today's figures to indicate what caused the latest'decline. - Dr. William H. Stewart, Surgeon Generalof the United ! States Public Health Service,~ Txa' NEW YO}(tf TIMES, aATURDAY, AvGUST 24, 1s-n The commercials urging ra4lo I listeners and TV viewers to give up smoking have multl- plied dramatically since the ederal Communications Com- mission directed the broad- casters last year to begin cari rying. them. "The fact that' this is visibt li's probably contributing to the deerease, but you can't' say'',for: ~ure at this point," commei~ted r. Stewart. Figures on per capita uon. pumption must wait until early next year since the Agriculture Department, which produces the only official statistics, does so on a calendar year basis. A said, however, that he thought s k f th d o esma or e t t "the message is finally getting around." "It is a safe assumption," he said in an interview, "that the message is being heard." Dr. Stetvart said there was some evidence of the down- trend in studies done by his department earlier this year.l But he sai& there were no im- mediate plans to delve deeper into the statistics and perhaps capitalize on them in the Gov- ornment's antismoking cam• aign. A spokesman for the to- aeco Institute, the industry's obbying and public relations rm, said the drop might not ctually mean Americans are moking less. Instead he sug- ested the drop might have re- ected a number of variables, or example, a fall off in cigar- tte production because of la- r strikes. Asked how the manufactur- rs feel about the antismoking ommercials that are now a ommonplace on radio and tele• sion, he said these messages were still an unknown quantity. "The producers don t know how to measure their potency;" he said. "They talk about them plenty, but they have no way as yet of determining their im- pact " p ar n m ep ea said, however, that fairly ac- curate unofficial figures could be obtained by dividing the fis- cal year totals by the number of persons 18 and over as of Jan. 1, This gives a per capita con- sumption figure during the fis- eal year f ust ended of 4,203 cigarettes, on the basis of an 18-and-over population of 129,3 million on Jan. 1. Per capita consumption in 1987, using a population factor of 127:3 mil- lion, would have been 4,282. V Tnuxirr EXPRESS &UF_F.AI:O Western New York's Greatest h)e^aspaper D: 15V73 SUfV. 306,989 AUG 117 By Paul ,Yayes U.S. Cigarette Of the Future . Packs Surprise t THE FEDERAL Trade Com- ~ mission's IatesY report', on cigarette smoke oontains no real surprises, but the list it- self would knock your eye out. In between Mac}v,els (lowest in tar an& nicotine) and Brandons (down at e bottom with Her- bert'~ Tarls~ton king nontiltera). you'li find some real dandies. Frappe. Picayune. Coupon., Yukon. Gauloises, Home Run. Devon. Helmar. Murads. Pied- mont! Omar. Domino. Tyron. Colonly. Dover Longs. (5) 8 1958 ;y