Tobacco Documents Online

S_enrices.of Mead! DatA Central, Inc. 12THiSTORY'of'Level 1 printed in FULL format. The Associated Press. PAGE 20 The materials in, the AP file were compiledi by The Assiociatedl Press. These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press. ` May 29, 1199t, Wednesday, AM cycle SECTION: Business News LENGTH:' 865 words HEAD'LI'NE:' Unreleased Rieport Says Tobacco Smoke Kills 53,000 NonrSmokers Annually BYLINE: By PAUL RAEBURN, DATELINE:' NEW YORK KEYiWORD: EPA Smoking Report BODY: Adlraft report sponsored by the Envi'ironmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies concludes that second-hand cigarette smoke kills 53,000 non-smoM1cers a, year, includiing, 37,000 from heart disease. The EPA emphasized that the estimates do~ not represent official E'PAA determinations. Rather, the estimates are the views of scientific authorities the agencies commissioned to write the report, the EPA said. A final draft of the report was completed in April, according to letters the EPA sent to the report's authors, but i't has not been released. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press. Public release of the document has been delayed indefinitely, said'Roibert Axelrad, director of the EPA's indoor, air division. "It has not been approved by the EPA. It may never be approved by EPA," he said. The report was intendledi to be an i'nformationaldocument for use by professionals in the field of indoor air pollution and passive smoking, Axielradl s'aidl. Donald Shopland, coordinator of' the smoikingi and tobacco control program at the National Cancer Institute and a contributor to the report, said that i'f N Axelrad refusedl toi release the report he would! propose that the cancer i'nstiitute Q release it. N N "'He fs m!aking, ai unilateral decision when this is, a cross-agency dbcument," N Shopland sald. "If i't's, reallya, multii-agenicy, document,then, he~'s not the one IN& that makes that decision." A, doctor with a~ watchdog group accused the a~gien~cy of caving in~ to p~ressu~~re~~ from the tobacco, i'ndus~t~ry~. "Government J,ust dbesni't~ daregp t~he~~ li~mit~ in challenging a big,, financially powerful i'ndustry,," saiid Dr. A'La!n Bluifn of' WI! C ., LEXIS'NEXIS'LEXIS'NEX/S'

Servfcea of Mead Data Central, Inc. PAGE 21 The Associated Press,, May,219, 1991 Houston, chairman and founder of Doctors Ought to Care, an anti-smoking group. "There's no doubt that the government is scared to bring this kind of report out," he said. The handling of the report has angered'a congressional ally of the tobaccol industry as well. Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr., R-Va., noted that two EPA officials in recent congressional testimony did not mention the existence of the reportt until Bliley inquirediabout it. "Deliberately providing false i'nformation to Congress is a serious matter," he said in a, letter to the EPA on May 9. "I hope that is not what is going on here." Axelrad saidlhe was formulating a reply to Bliley's letter. In addition to the findings on heart disease, the re~port concludes that second-hand tobacco, smoke contributes substantially to indoor air pollution, elevating, airbornie levels of pollutant particles and such dangerous substances as benzene andi carbon! monoxide. A chapter on lung cancer says more research is necessary to understand how second'-hand smoke causes dis ase, but "existing scientific conclusions already provide a compelling,rationale for rediucing involuntary exposure toi environmental tobaccoi smoke." Axelrad said the report could be describedlas ai broadlreview of'existing research'an the hazards of second-hand tobacco smoke. He said: each cbap,ter was reviewed for scientific accuracy by at least two other~ scientistsi outside the . agency. The report has been the focus of intense lobbying by the tobacco industry, whtch has been, particularly upset by the chapter dealing with second-hand smoke and heart disease. 0 ASthough the report has not been released to the public, copies of an earlier draft were distribuited& to the toibaccoi i'ndustry for thetr comments.. The industry sent the EPA "boxlioads of scientific documents and commentary, f'rom; i~ndependlent scientists from airound~ theworl6, pointi'ng~ out the weaknesses, the: unsubstantiated chai'ms" in the report,, said Brennan Daiwso~n,, a s~pokeswomanfor the Tobacco Institute in Washingiton, D.C. N Q. Much of the controversy over the report has focused on the estimate of 3:7,000 heart di'sease deaths: attributed to second~-handl smoke. That section was written N by Stanton Giantz and'i Dr. William, Parmiey of the Wni'versity of California, San 1-6 Francisco. an V "'Thirty-seven thousand'~ may be a: of Stan Glantz"s imagi'nation and William Parmley's imagin'ation, or it may be a real estimate," said'Axelrad. GID "Any ef'foirt or any attempt to impiy any ki'nd of endorsement or acceptance by. EPA"' of' the death estimates in the technical compendium "is at this time totally inappropriate,"'he said. . co LEX1SNEXIS ' 'LEX/S'NEXIS'

Sen+ic*4 of Mead Data Central, Inc. q3~9 PAGE 2 2 The Associated Piress, May 29, 1991' Glantz said the validlity, of the estimate had been endorsed by scientific reviewers selected' by, the EPA. "The worrk in questton was very thoroughly reviewed by the EPA and'al large number of outside reviewers. I't was also reviewed' extensively by the jiouirnal Circulation," published by the American Heart Assocfation. "And the only reviewers who raised any serious criticism of the work were the Tobacco Institute," he saidi. ""'Moreover, the death estimates follow, from textbook epi'demi'ological arithmetic, not any kind of esoteric judgment," Glantz said. The report is one: of threeEPA, reports on the dangers of'second-hand cigarette smoke. Twoi have been released irr draft form. ©nel found t~ha~ttobacco smo~keisa, proven~ cause~ of lu% cancer ini non-smokers, killing 3,700 Ameri'cans each year. The other is a workplace policy giuide that suggests ways employers can protect non-smoki% woirkers from exposure to tobacco s'moke. The two documents are in the process of final revision. LEXIS'NEXIS'LEXIS'NEXIS'