Tobacco Documents Online

The Digest's press release on its June article and advertising ban gained little press attention. The magazine also ran five-column advertisements (see next page) in major metropolitan dailies, and smaller advertisements in other papers. Radio advertising was also noted. C ~ ADVERTISING AGE i0030y0y olD May 21 1962 , 'Digest' to Drop All Cigaret Ads- . Hifs Health Effect from cancer and heart the general public." disease than ~po3 Stock Section cle4 ~~(M TIMES-DISPATCH Richmond, Virginia May 19, 1962 .~ In '61 It Carried 215 Pages of Cigaret Copy, in Int'I Editions Only Ngw Yoex, May 18-Reader's Digest will announce May 21 that it willi no longer accept cigaret, advertising, in its international edi- tions. Such ads have never been accepted in U.S. editions. The Digest's June issue will eon- tain an article by Lois Mattox Miller reporting the lat'est findings on lung cancer and cigarets by the Royal' College of Physicians in Lon- don, titled "Smoking & Healtht' (AA, March 1'2). The report will state that cigaret smoking causes lung cancer and bronchitis and contributes to the development of coronary heart diseases and other diseases such as ulcers. Simultaneous with the Digest announcement, the American Can. cer Society will release a statement .by Dr. Harold S. Diehl, senior vp for research and medical affairs, which endorses the Digest article. It reports that 40,000 Americans will, die of lung cancer this year and states that lung cancer now :an "t'ruly be called an epidemic."' I In, 1961, Reader's Digest interna- (onal editions carried 215 pages of cigaret advertising totaling about $191,000, according, to Rome Re- search reports. Accumpan*-ing, the article in in- ternational editions will be an an- nvancemer.t titled "About cigaret aJveriisii,g," which states: "The editors of Reader's Digest' can find little room for further doubt that cigarets are harmfuli to the health of smokers. "In these circumstances, and as long as these circumstances exist, the editors feel it unconscionable to continue to accept advertising which has as its purpose the enr couragement of cigaret smoking: We are accordingly advising our advertisers of this policy decision."  Also in the June issue of the Digest will be an item in the press section reprinting a letter Sen. Maurine Neuberger (D., Ore.). wrote to the New York Times dis- puting a March 18 story in the Tirn.es citing a: recent American To- bacco Co, report that claimed its employes "smoke twice as much, •live longer, an& have fewer deaths Mrs. Neuberger's husband died of cancer and she herself is a vic« timi having smoked a pack a day ' until 1956: She retorts In her letter lthat "cold and disinterested analy- sis of stati>;t'ical data"' by the So- ciety of Actuaries reports that the rate of death and permanent dis- ability claims for tobacco industry employes is significantly higher than the rate for comparable em. ployes in other industries. "Lung cancer does pose a threat to the cigaret industry; it also threatens a substantial segment off the advertising industry. It is, a grave threat to nationalihealth. And it Is a threat that neither the dis- tortion, of scientific data nor the most inventive advertising cam- paign can abate," she says.  Mrs. Miller's article says that the recent report by the "venera- ble 444-year-ol& Royal College of Physicians which never deals with trivia or sensationalism" was in "sharp contrast to the timidity with whichi the health services, regulatory agencies and legislators in Washington, D. C., have shied away from the clearly defined issue of smoking an&health." Referring, to a 1959 report' by the surgeon general of, the U. S. Public Health Service which wass published in the Journal of the Am.erican Medical Assn. and cov- ered much the same ground as the British, report, and "accepted the causative role of cigarets in lung cancer," Mrs. Miller continues: "But, unfortunately some of the surgeon general's colleagues had ; writt'en into the report a brief i paragraph which down-graded an& d dismissed filter tips even as partiali health protection an& the Federal! Trade Commission seized upon this excuse to sweep the issue of the tar and nicotinN conter.t of Ameri- can cigareis und'er the earpet."'  She says there have since been `a few faint but encouraging, signs 3f a change of heart."' Among them she cites: Dr. Nlichael' B. Shimkin, of the Nationali Cancer Institute, who supports the cancer society proposal for a federall regulation requiring cigaret packages to be labeled with the tar and nicotine content; the report in AnveRTCSrNc AGE (AA, March 12) which quotea Byron H. Jacques, hea& of the FTC bureau of ttade practice con- ference, as admitting that if there really are health differences be- tween filter-tips and non-filters, "some change in our attitude might be necessary." # - s h... .. . .: - i. rt~.. ~.,+.. z From New York Tim.ea and AP Dispatches NEW YORK, May 18=Tobacco ahRrPs led the stock market downward for thP seoond successive day, still affected hy the news that Readers' Digest in its June Issue will discuss the links bet'x'een cigarets and cancer alleeed by ihe Fril- ish medical authorities. Volume was thr lowest since July 21, 1961L 1 Th- por,ulhr avtraces all c1r?serl er, '',INev- hr usr. I gz' h• T)u : Ir , , 1..= 4• 'Pt THE NEW YORK TIMES NeK York, New York May 21, 1962 yqlurself.' \ :r \s Cigarette Ban '/ The Reader's Digest an- nounced over the week-end that 'i.ts international editions woulu *~+ccept no more cigarette advcr- 'ticing after present contracts •are fulfilled. . The decision ]a an extension a ,nf Digest policy that always has vZ-t h;inned in, ?i;.., Utliced Statrs editinn. The n,a^- azine's ;nternatinnall editinn, last year carried about': 2i:c paRes of cigarette ads. The announcement coincidr~ %vith an art'icle in the ma,a- zine's .1nne issue, entitled "I'.unR Cancer and Cigarettes;" whii-li summarizes a recent report by llte British Royal College of l'hysiciars on "S'moking, and Health." "Cigarrile smoking is a cause of lung rancer and bronchitis. and probthly conl'ributcs to the developmonl o.* rurrnrat;v heart disease and .'nr~ ,i,s,lrs.; commou diseases." t he_ ia ir+s says. ,~a,'"~k~ .ie - ,