Tobacco Documents Online

C C C BUSINESS WEEK April 14, 1962 London youths cast skeptical eye at posters that aid'anti-smoking drive British report sparks cancer-smoking scare Strong stand of British officialk brings some voluntary limitations on advertising and hits stock prices, although U. S. companies say that there is no evidence Once agaima dark cloud no,bigger than a puff'of cigarette smoke hangs over~the tobacco industry: It hung over the industrv's shares orn the Vev., York Stock Exchange this week and prices tumblhdi al- thouah later rallyint;; It hung over the industry in Great Britain, and sales of riqarettes declined and the industrvV was moved to restrict its advertisine. ItaPrhaspassedl a l>>ivbannihc ali tobacco advc•rtisinq. tn the- C%. S.. s iinol anthoritics in ~ev- eral c, mmnniiics ha, ' e [ut new vigor intocampaians in porcnade young- sters not to beFin smoking: The tobacco induFtrv in,this coun- trv is somewhat nonplussed by itt all. It~ knmvs what started the sud- den resurgence nf mentioning ciQ, arettes and cancer in the same breath-but it' doesn'tunderstandl why the move has ^athered such~ momenhim. British report. Allinf the ne v dis- cussions associatinqcancer and cie- arettes apparently be¢ami a littlemore than a month, ago with the publicatoon in England of a reportt hy al special committee of the Royal College of Physicians. The nine phy• sicians who made up the cnmmittee said they "must accept~ the hypothe- sis" that cigarettes are a major cause of lung cancer. Minister of Health John Enoch Powell, on the floor of the House of Commons, said the re port df-monstrates "authoritatively and crushinGly the causall connec- t;on betn ren cigarette smoking and itmqcancer."Tl:at's ~Uhat makes people in the U. S; tobacco industry gasp., The RCP' cc mmittee didl noorigi,nall re- search: instead'the doctors evaluated repnrtsof other research;,mnst of it done in theU: S:,And no cnvernment onrespnnsiblh medical official in this countrv has ever taken such a flat stand acthat of theBr~itish Mibistcr of Hcalth. In a statement on the RCP com- mittnen'pnrtl Ccorge V. A'lleni,pres- idcnt ofl the Tobacco Ihst'itutc (an association of U. S: tobacco com- panies), said: '" . . thr Btitii:hireport contains a number of contradictions and inconsistencies: For example, the authors say that tobacco is some- thing that 'most smokers enjoy with- out injury to flealth:' And yet they suggest a~ general campai~m to dis- courage everyone from smoking." Less evidence. There's another reason the U. S. industry is puzzled that the British report should stir up a new cancer scare. Industry people are firmltr convinced that a causali relationship behveen cigarettes and cancer has grown dimmer, not clearer, over the years. The Tobacco Industrv Research Committee was established in 19,i4n in the midst of a welter of reports assnciating heavy smoking with cancer. In the years since, the TIRC claims it has eommittedS5.5-million fbr research grants to reputable scientists and institutions fbrworkin the fields of cancer, cardiovas: eular diseases, and ulccrs. The outstanding fact to emerge from this,and all the other wnrk on cancer is that the disease mnst probv ablv has many more causes than were recognized in 1954. Same reaction. TIRC and the pornlaritv of filter cigarettes and nnti-smokinc pills grew out of the cigarette-and-cancer reports irnm this country in the early 1950s. \ow simlar reactions can, be observed in England. 'ilhetbbaceoindustrypointsout that it is illegal in, Britain to sell tobacco to children, under 16, so seven, companics, that control 90% of the ciqaretth market have vohm- tarily stooped advertising on tele- vision brfore 9 p. mi; formerly about one-half of their TV advertising wass on between 7 p. m. and 9 p. m. One of the hir¢est companies has re- moved 6,000 vending machines from streets and public nlaces to private premises w}iere children can be pre- ventedlfrom using them. i nere has been a decline in ciga- rette sales in Britain, althoufih filter- tiPs are up;, and there has been a 5f1`.?o increase in the sale nf pipes. Pipe makers report reeluestsfor smaller, women's models of their products. Strong stand. All of that might be expected after a report such as, that' of, thephysicians; but~ up to nowBritain is the onlycountry wHerepublic nfBcialk have taken such a strong position. In addition to the statement of Minister nf Health Pbwell, the Min• ister of F.ducationihas advised thach, ers to discuss thr RCP report in health elasses, (VnwYork, Citytbachors alfeachy are requiied by law to advise ynuns;stcrs of' the harmful effects ofl. tobacco):.