Tobacco Documents Online

, ;; , . obaeco Institute ~tojolder age brackets, have de- dined from over 500 per 100,000 ,.Cites Gai{ Iss 11 { than~at any,othernperiod in this century. atEon's Hea~th ' 4' The averagehelght and , weight of young men have shown 4 ,, ,.,.a `l~av.v°Y4-3 it^. : :•: a steady increase since 1900. The '~, WASHINGTON - The Tobacco physical measurements of fresh• 1, Institute, Inc. today cited official men recorded at annual enroll- figures on the improving health ments by one major university and longevity of the American have gone up more than two ', people as a challenge to "health inches in height and more than ;: acares" attacking the use of - poU-s in weight since the turn and the Health of a Nation" notes tobacco. A pamphlet entitled "Tobacco of the century. "Those who are against tobacco wi11 probably continue to try to acare the life out of those who like to use tobacco - regardless of the facts," Mr. Ragland added. Tbe pocket-sized, six-page folder L being distributed by The Tobac- co Institute, Inc., 910 Seventeenth Street, N.W. Washington 6, D.C. The Institute' is an organization of manufacturers of cigarettes smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco that ever since tobacco began to be enjoyed by people throughout the world, its opponents have . always attempted to make ex- i` treme charges against~ its use. ..• In announcing publication of the ; pamphlet, Edward F. Ragland, vice president of the Tobacco Institute, said, "This leaflet gives facts and figures from U.S. Gov ernment and other sources show- ing the tremendous advances made in the health of our people since the beginning of this cen- ..tury. Tribute should certainly go to the medical, profession and the drug industry, as Well as to our high standards of nutrition, for helping to give us a longer, healthier life: "Those who attack cigarettes by blaming them for all kinds of ' health problems seem to overlook the fact that these health improve• ments have also occurred during the same period that the cigarette ` aas constantly gaining wide- spread favor as the most popular ,.form of tobacco use." Major points shown in the leaf- let are: 1. More Americans are living longer today than ever before, with life expectancy higher for every age group. The average Iength~of life in the U.S. has risen fiom about 47 years to nearly 70 years in this century. 2. Death rates from major lung allmentt in 1900 were 700 per cent higher than they are today, w'sth hutg cancer included. These rates have dropped from about 430 deaths per 100,000 in 1900 to around 60 per 100,000 today. t. Slnoe 1928, age-adjusted death rates for major heart diseases, which allow for more people living and snuff. NES:S Bridgeton, New Jersey July 21, 1960 1 ~ ,-'•• u, '4* ~~'f ~%~ ~,~G Pr BEaCON Wichita, Kansas July 23, 1960 Blowing Statistical Smoke Rings The tobacco industry has been the victim in recent years of statistical studies which have caused' many to jump to conclusions that the figures don't precisely prove. So the Tobacco Institute of Wash~ ington, D.C.,, retorts with some sta- tistics which lead as illogically to thee opposite concl!usions: The figures 'could cause people to argue that tobacco is good for health. (The In- stitut!e makes no su& claim.) Cigarets, the principal target of the critlcs of smoking, have in- creased steadily in popularity since World' War I. But the general health of the American people has in- creased even more, dramatically. Cigarets have oft~en been linked with diseases of the lungs - influ- enza, pneumonia, t'uberculosis and lung cancer - but the death rate from these diseases has shown a steady decline since 1900, with the terrible flu epidemic of 1918 as an except~ion. The death rate *has dropped from more than 300 per 100,000 in 1920 to slight~ly more than 50 now. And'heart d i s e a s e, which has shown considerabl'a in- crease, has act'ually declined since 1928 wheni the statistics are age ad- .iusted'. The average life span has shown a dramatic increase from about 55 in 1920 to almost 70 now. These figures, of course, prove nothing one way or another about tobacco. We don't kno«• whether or how much the health and longevity ti•ould' have been improved if the na- tion had sworn off cigarets in 1920. One set of statistics offered by the Institute does seem ta provide evi- dence against one ancient notion about cigarets. Since 1900, Yale freshmen have been gradually in- creasing in height and weight. If cigarets did actually stunt the growth of boys, there should have been a decline. i:: -• : -