Tobacco Documents Online

PSW' YqRK KERROR ` Rew York, Aew York .AoNember 713, 1962 . ;: ~• . - . -WASHiNGTON MER6!Y-GO-ROUNDs By mRIW PEARSQN ------ -- There S se~cr~ ~ ere Th~r~'s Smo~Ce.Y -Every possible precaution following siattstics handed to the Advisory Gommittee for 1ml T WASHTNCTON, Nov 12 . . of • Growers prod~sced over 2 billion1 pounds for 19+81 on 52D,000 ` first meetin l{ t th th t k f g waa a en o eep e press away roun e , farms; 700,000 farm iaznilies' livellhoodiwas dependent on to>;e~ ~', the Surgeon Gianeral,s Advisory Committee on Srnolang and . Tobacco is the iourth ranking ctrop fa value, lndu~ Health, sometimes called `21"he Cigaret Committee.°' livestock. Ptablic Health officials would'1 admit the 10 scientLsts appointed e Growers got over U3 billion irom the sale of tobacoo .' t to the committee were meeting with Public Health Service Sur- In 1961. geoni General Luther Terry and renresentatives of Live government e In Kentucky, tobacco cash receipts are 82 percent of all :. ageneies. But that was about all they would, admit crops; in hTorth, ~rolina, 70 percent; in Tennessee, 40 percent- + So sensitive were they on this score that even the secretaries South, Carolina, 37 percent; Georgia, 35 percent; Cbnnecticut; of _HEW asked to be 1 kept ignorant of the room number in w.hich percent; Virginia, 24 nt; Niaryland, 23 percenti Massachusetts, ~' their bosses were aaeeting. ,. . -. . 10 percent; We V~ s, 2 percent Wisaonsin, 4lpercent?u~ ;' But this columni can disclose that Surgeon General, Terry Ohdo, 3 percent; Indian < ti, opened the twoaday session by explaining he did not want those 1 percent; Florida, 5 percent concerned harassed before they learned the scope and nature of their responsibiBties. THE' Z7IKRTED STATES LEADS the world in the productiota ` . You are free, he told, the groupo to talk any 'time as an fndi. and exportation o!' tobacco. It exported 630 milAon pounds vahu•d .; viduai' scientist to any reporter about your partitular lield' of at hali a billion dollars In 19I61, while Importing 168 million poundti lnterest, but please do not disclose the work of this committee, valued at ;119 millionl r r~p~ because of the eontroversial nature of the subj ect' matter. Of the 1 tobaooo consumed here in i96ft, estl<maties are that t!w :' There are too many economfe, publia, politital, and other Manufacturing Industry produced 5391 billion ciaarete, 7.! Itillfon J factors involvedi to make any premature judgment, Terry warned:. cigars and cigarlliis, U16 miilion sntall oigars, 71 million pounds . . Dr, Texry implied that' these factors could hsve devastating of amoidng tobacco, nearly 65' million pounds of chewing tobaeoo, :' repercussions on the Individual and that it was his hope to aRoid 33 milllon pounds of' snuff. sarh repercussions by oovering, Individual findings In s'bombined ' In 1962, the A iculture Department estimates that the United " jiudgment." - States will spend $7.8 billion on tobacco products of which about _ How po werl'titl' these pressures might be was imrnediateely$3.2'billion will be received byFederal,'state, and local governments ' appare t in the report prepared for the committee by the Agrl- as excise tax revenue. ~r ~~~ eulturenDepartment concerning the extent of- tobacco as a com- The Agriculture Department estimates that there are 7~0 modity in the United States. aiiIlllon tobacco smokers the United, States. • Its importance to Amesicam agriculture was disclosed In the These were the facts placed' before the committee charged -with the vitally iinportant question of decidin,g whether cigarets! .. ,cause lung cancer. tEsle.ae~br M. a.n s,ndleata, 7a, ) 'IHKREIODttD. Bergen, New Jersey foveaber 6. 1962 ~ That D~ieep~~-Diown, Satis:`yin,~ ~"neassn~ess Seemingly thc most significant paragraph in a United Press International dispatch from Washington about the hazards, it any, of smoking, was this one: . . After completing the first phase of the study, the committee or a successor panel will *.~y tp decide what; i'I'anythinY, the Government shou dl do about sasokinx. Under discussion was an, investigation, to be undertal:en by 110 medical experts ap~ pointed, by the Surgeon-General to determine whether the use of tobacco constitutes aX health threat to the 110b million Americzns who smoke and, :f it does, how seripus•is the threat. Let's concede that if there is to be an investigation int(, the effects of, smoking this is the most objeetive way of proceeding. Sur- geon-Gcnerall~ Lut'herL. Ter~rycan have no possible interest except to assemble data and •draw conclusions from it. There is no reason to believe he would want the report to be gloomy. which, might give the American Can- cer Society some grim satisfaction, or to be- lieve that he would •want it' to be cheerfui,, which would' certainly delight the tobacco industry. But isn't involved here an eco• nomic factor so large thatit might transcend whatever biological information is uncov+ ered?' Supposing, for instance, the 'Surgeon-Gen- eral's team finds a definite causal link be+ tween smoking and lung cancer, a, connecn tion whose probability evenw now has impres- sive research support in this country and in Europe. Then waat? Does the United States say t'hat, you eann't smoke because it might' kill you? Does ir publish its findings-alwayy open to challPr^-,;e,, as so many medical ana .statist!icaT findings are-an.d risk putting a~ .S7.5.bilihon, industry out of, business or at least seriously irnpairing, its life expectancy? By whatever means are available tb us, we should' be trying to seek out the° truths about cancer, and certainly the United States Government is one of the agencies which should be doing' more than its share. So much uncertainty and so many conflicting opinions exist as to the connection between cancer 'and- smoking that a wholly objective inves- tigation will be weicome:' It seems all butt impossible that the Surgeon-G'eneral's team -can come up with a completely definitive answer: smoking, causes cancer; smoking, doesn't cause cancer. This is a phase of can- cer study in which a great deal of' confTicting, evidence an& doubt exists, where a great deal of knowledge is yet to be acquired. Any agency with previous experience, no mat'ter what its beliefs or motives, should' be eagei to contribute tb, the search.