Tobacco Documents Online

100.3oyy4%151 DEMOCRAT Tallahassee, Florida March 13, 1962, ' C Prohibition Won t Do 1 t Faced with a rise in deaths from lung cancer among men of 220Tper cent in 30 years, the Danish National Society for the Combating of Cancer has recommended that smoking be severely curbed. It would forbid smoking in public places for persons under 16, prohibit,smoking in public t'ransportation facilities, schools , and libraries, penalize smoking cigarettes by taxation favoring,pipe and cigar smoking, and restrict or abolish ad- vertising of tobaceo;, and especially of cigarettes. Af'SFie same time, the British gov- ernment is under pressure to dis- courage smoking by imposing higher EAGLF: Wichita, Kansas March 10, 1962 / New Report on Tobacco Britain's Royal College of P1ty- sicians report's, without equivocation, t igarette smoking is a cause of lu cancer. The College's st'udy also produces the findings that sragling causes bronchitis and contributes t'o coronary heart disease. The phy- sicians recommend that their findings be publicized widely and that certain restrictions and taxing, handicaps be placedion the tobacco industry. When the lung cancer scare arose a few years ago, it was quiet'ed by tobacco industry action. The filter tip cigarette was heavily promoted to allay smokers' fears about their health. Tobacco consumption contin- ued to rise.. Acutely sensitive on the health is?ue, the industry undoubtedly will defend it.self against the British charge on several fronts: attacking the College's findingsi, presenting medical counter-arguments, stepping up advertising and changing em- phasis: Perhaps new gimmicks will he produced to reassure the cancer- phobic smoker. The medical profession will again choose up sides and go over the en. 'ire argument again. The College's report gave three r is why the public refused: to ac t"the facts" about smoking: neople dislike accepting unpleasant facts; big financial interests are in- volved in tobacco;, and, most' impor- ~ znt, people who smoke want to kecp on smoking. And that, undoubtedly, is what they will do. taxes on cigarettes, folowing the re- port of the Royal College.of Physi- cians declaring cigarette smoking is a probable cause of the increase in lung cancer and' other diseases. In Washington, Sen. Maurine B. Neuberger, Oregon Democrat, an- nounced she is preparing legislation "to deal with this tragic problem." The mounting, evidence is becom- ing persuasive, but we l e as n e d' through the prohibition amendment the fallacy of trying to restrict perr sonal habits by law. We must find a way to convince people to help them- selves, not to stubbornly resist doing what is good for them.. /003a444 i5C TRI-CITY IIERALD Pasco, Washington March 13, 1962 'Most i.ikely~ TIE N341' YORK TIbES New York, llew York April 5, 1962 Cigarettes and Public Health While the controversy about the relationshipp between cigarette smoking and lung cancer is still far from settled, the problem is entering a new phase. In Britain, the Government has openedia cam- paign to educate the public, and especially school children, to the risks of cigarette smoking, A campaign by civic committees is under way in London~,Bristol and'Manchester to ban smoking in theatres and' motion picture houses. In Den- mark, the Danish National Society for the Cbm- bating of Cancer issued a report ~ affirming a link between smoking and hing cancer and urging the Government to restrict or abolish all cigarette advertising and to prohibit all pekaons under. 16 years of' age from smoking in public. In this,country;,SenatorMaurine B: Neuber,er of Oregon is an advocate of legislation aimed at': restricting the sale of cigarettes. She has told the Senate thati"the Federal Government can no more permit the continued unchecked poisoning of our population than it could permit the unrestricted sale of narcotics."'' As against all these, we have the 1961 rrport of Clarence Cook Little, scientific director of the TbbaccoIndustry, Research Committee, empha- aizing that "even if a etatisticat' association iv assumed to be completely valid, it does,not and cannot demonstrate that smokingisactuallya factor" in causing cancer. But if:the health, well- being and! life span of the vast majority of our populatimn are involved, it.sh'ould not Ilee neces- sary to wait for 100 per cent proof. Manyy leading medical and public health au- thorities agree that the statistics demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that smoking of ciga- rettea has an injuriouseffect of, some.kin.d on those who: indUlge im thee habit beyond'd modera- tionj , Thies should be enough forpublicr health agencies to discourage the habit by means short of prohibition. Cause Ci arette smolang, says the Brit- fsh .aTCollege of Surgeons, .s the "most likely" cause of iung cancer inhumans. Its indirtmFnt of cigarettes re- sult^d from a t:vc-year study, which c o.• e r e d thc:aands of case :~istor- ies and more than 200 other medicai inquiries into smoking." The surgeons also said cigarette s m o k i n g probably contributes to deaths from heart disease, tuberculo- sis among elderly men and the de- velopment of chronic brunch;tls, cdn- cer of the mouth, esophat;us, lilr},px and bladder. The B'r i t i s h T+ibaccu Idan-Arac- turers' Standing Committee, in re- piying to charges by the Roya1 Sur- geons, suggested air pollution rather thano cigarette smoking is the cause ofilungeancer. "There is much evi:ience." it said, "to suggest that the strikinq dif- ference in the -cider.ce of lung can- cer and bronchitis betwmen urban and rur.l areas, and between onee counUry and anothe-, reflect in aarv;ng dt- .arees the cttects of air p;;aution." Pollution could be al factor, of adurse„ which would seem to c a s t doubt on reliability of the surgeons' study and conclusions, which is pre- ciself,, the reason the tobaccoindustty hu;. puintcd the finger at the air. I:'s the s a m e tactic schoolboys use "L-ok what he's doino!" t h e y say; hoping to~ divert attention~ from, thcir ownconduct'. '' Certainly you can't blame the to. bacao iiidustry. It has billions of dol- lars at stake. Buti cigarette smokers have even, more t'o lose.