Tobacco Documents Online

Smoking Policy Institute

Smoking Policy Institute Incorporation and Stated PuZ:Rose On August 13, 1986, the Smoking Policy Institute (the Institute) was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Washington. (Tab 1) As outlined in Article III of its Articles of Incorporation, the purposes of the Institute are: Essentially to engage in nonpartisan analysis, study and research concerning the use of tobacco products in public, with particular emphasis on the use of tobacco products in private and public work places throughout the United States and the rest of the world and to present the results thereof via public discussion groups, forums, panels, lectures and similar programs in a sufficiently full and fair exposition of the pertinent facts as to permit an individual or the public to form an independent opinion or conclusion. The officers of the corporation shall have the responsibility for planning and implementing an educational program to carry out the above and foregoing purposes. In its 1990 'Annual Report to the Secretary of State, the affairs currently being conducted by the Institute in the State of Washington were described as follows: The Institute provides an education and information resource for business employees and employers on the subject of environmental tobacco smoke and its impact in the work place and provides solutions to the problems. The Smoking Policy Institute is empowered to gather interested individuals who wish to lend their names to the works of the "educational enterprise," to receive gifts and donations and to purchase and accept gifts of real or personal property.

Among those activities expressly forbidden by the corporation are: No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the corporation shall not participate in or intervene in (including the publication or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office. The management of the corporation is vested in a board of seven directors. The two individuals who served as the incorporators were Timothy Lowenberg, named the Registered Agent, and Robert Rosner. Timothy Lowenberg, an attorney practicing with the firm Schweinler, Lowenberg & Lopez in Tacoma, Washington, continued as the Institute's registered agent and served as- its secretary until 1989. Robert Rosner is also still with the Institute, serving as its Executive Director. In his position as Executive Director of the Smoking Policy Institute, Mr. Rosner maintains a high profile in the news media. According to the Encyclopedia of Associations, 1991 edition, the Smoking Policy Institute was formerly known as the Institute for occupational Smoking Policy founded in 1985. The Smoking Policy Institute was originally associated with the Albers School of Business, Seattle University. Whether there continues to be an affiliation is not known. The 1990 Annual Report does list the address of one of the officers, William Weis, Treasurer, as the Aibers School of Business, Seattle University.

Prior to the formation of the Smoking Policy Institute or its predecessor, Robert Rosner began a career of consulting with businesses on developing a smoke-free policy. His first client was Group Health Cooperative of Seattle whose policy went into effect in early 1984 after ten months of planning. "Health Groups Ban Smoking," United Press International, April 26, 1984. (Tab 6) By mid-1965 Robert Rosner had joined forces with two others in a consulting partnership. , Although Rosner, Weis and Lowenberg apparently no longer exists as a partnership, all three of the men have maintained active roles in the Smoking Policy Institute. They are Timothy Lowenberg, the registered agent and secretary through 1989 and William Weis, the treasurer. The partnership was formed, according to Rosner, when a need for smoking policy consultation was evident. "Two Burning Questions: Who: Tells Smokers to Put It Out?''$ The Washington Post, July 28, 1985, at Dl. (Tab: 8) Mr. Weis, chairman of Seattle University's accounting department, authored a report that claims that smokers boost a company's costs up to $4,600 per employee annually. The partnership often cited Weis' report when working with companies. In November 1984 the three men appeared with others as speakers at a seminar offering advice to Los Angeles business leaders on how to create a smoke-free work place. Mr. Weis is identified as "an expert on the cost of smoking to employers." Mr. Lowenberg is said to be a "nationally recognized authority on smoking and the law." Robert Rosner is a'"frequent media speaker

on smoking in the work place and veteran smoking policy implementation specialist." "For Your Information," PR Newswire, Nov. 14, 1984. (Tab 7) By September 1985, Robert Rosner was identified as the executive vice president of the Institute of Occupational Smoking Policy at Seattle University's Albers School of Business. Rosner, at the time, was a keynote speaker at three seminars scheduled in New Jersey to discuss compliance with the state's new smoking laws. "Business Notes," The New York Times, Sept. 29, 1985, at 12, Col. 5. (Tab 9) When the state of Washington established a public benefit nonprofit corporation designation in 1989, the Smoking Policy Institute applied for the designation. (Tab 3) According to the findings of the Washington legislature, the designation was created "to increase the level of accountability to the public of the nonprofit corporations . .." and to establish a clear definition of those nonprofit corporations that may hold themselves out as operating to benefit the public. Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 24.03.490 (1990). Reported Activities Shortly after the incorporation of the institute in 1986, a letter to the editor was written to the New England Journal of Medicine, by Michael J. Martin, M.D., of the University of California, Annette Fehrenbach, Ph.D., Pacific Northwest Bell, and Robert Rosner, Smoking Policy Institute, to report on the smoking

ban recently initiated at Pacific Northwest Bell, a Seattle-based telephone company. (Tab 4) At the time the letter to the editor was written, the ban on smoking at Pacific Northwest had been in effect for six months. After reporting on the success of the smoking ban, the letter concludes by suggesting that physicians should be particularly interested in the smoking policies of hospitals. It is now time for all hospitals to consider such a ban. Smoking,is the greatest cause of premature death and disability in the United States, and it would be ironic if health care institutions let the general business community take the lead in banning smoking in the work place. The letter to the editor received a considerable amount of attention in the news media, culminating in an appearance by William Weis and Robert Rosner of the Smoking Policy Institute on the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour on September 9, 1986. During that broadcast, Mr. Rosner was quoted as saying "This is something that people are going to have to get used to -- that the ashtray in the corporate environment is going to be as rare as the spittoon is. Smoking is on its way out." (Tab 16) In March 1987, in an article entitled "Warning: No Smoking in the Office Any More" a spokeswoman for the Smoking Policy Institute described the evolution of the activities of the Institute. "When we first began," said Jennifer Pepino, a spokeswoman for the organization, "we dealt mostly with whether companies should have policies. Now, we are dealing with how to - 5 -

implement those policies. It is very much a trend. Once you start the ball rolling, the effect is enormous," she said. In addition to helping set policy for employers, the Institute provides teaching tools and videotapes to ease the process of converting a work place into a nonsmoking or smoking- restricted area. "We've helped thousands of companies over the phone," Pepino said, in addition to the approximately 60 who have paid the Institute to set up tailored programs for their facilities. (Tab 24) In an article dated April 3, 1987, Carolyn McVicker who is described as the Director of Marketing for the Smoking Policy Institute issued comments concerning a Washington State Supreme Court case in which second hand smoke was an issue. The article describes the Institute as "a nonprofit corporation which assists corporations in resolving problems created by smoking in the work place." 63 Daily Lab. Rep. (BNA) at A-1 (April 3, 1987). (Tab 25), Robert Rosner, the Institute's Executive Director, described the Institute's position on smoking in an article published in the Los Angeles Times on August 2, 1987. (Tab 30) Rosner said his institute takes a "very narrow" position on smoking. That position does not concern the health of smokers. It concerns "the public health of all those exposed to smoke." Reinforcing that idea in a subsequent Los Angeles Times article of August 10, 1987, Rosner said he doesn't personally care whether people smoke. "But, he added, 'the issue is that people should not smoke if they share an air space . . ."' (Tab 31)

In October 1987 the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Office on Smoking and Health commissioned a federal report by the Smoking Policy Institute to examine smoking control policies within the government. Robert Rosner criticized the smoking control policies of the government by saying it was a classic example of the government making a rule then adding a hundred exceptions. According to Rosner, "[r]ather than admitting smoking presents a health problem and isolating smoking in the work place, the agencies have set up this Byzantine house of cards." (Tab 32) In November 1987 the Smoking Policy Institute conducted a survey of 50 of the Fortune 500 companies. The survey, conducted by means of written and telephone interviews, indicated that smoking in the work place is perceived as enough of a problem to warrant restrictions. A spokeswoman for the Institute explained their current activities. "We don't conduct clinics, or insist on a totally smoke free environment," Pepino said. "Our main concern is educating corporations to • understand the implications of smoking in the work place and help them to develop smoking control policies." "We are not anti-smoking. Smokers have the right to smoke and non-smokers have the right not to smoke, so we want environments where there is no involuntary smoking." The article discussing the survey by the Institute, "Majority of Companies have Smoking Policies," November 17, 1987, quotes both Jennifer Pepino and Robert Rosner of the Smoking Policy Institute and identifies the Institute as one which "assists - 7 -

corporations and other organizations to resolve problems created by smoking." (Tab 35) The Institute's survey was discussed again in an article in early 1988, indicating that 72% of the companies surveyed developed smoking policies only after they were required to do so by law. Robert Rosner explained that the main reason the companies are hesitant about developing smoking policies is that "they approach it as 'a social problem, not a health and safety problem.'" According to Mr. Rosner, companies which are putting together a smoking policy must decide where or whether they will let people smoke, how to designate areas for smoking, and how to help employees stop smoking. "To be successful even in restricting smoking, you have to convince employees that sidestream smoke is harmful. If you do that, then the clock starts ticking to remove smoke as a health problem." Mr. Rosner observes. "Smoking and Drug Policies; Who's Right,"' Industry Week, Feb. 1, 1988 at 39. (Tab 39) In March 1988 Seattle was named one of the ten healthiest cities in America. The description of Seattle included a reference to the Smoking Policy Institute. The Institute was identified as a national education and lobbying group that has helped ban or limit smoking in many local companies. (Tab 41) Robert Rosner, in an article discussing the recently escalated pace of regulation of smoking, states that in the last two years "we've made more progress than in the previous 30." The 8

reason given most frequently for this change is the new information on passive smoking. According to Mr. Rosner, "The one humongous issue is that the average person can justify harming themselves, but can't justify harming somebody else." "Smoking Becomes 'Deviant Behavior,'" The New York Times, Apr. 24, 1988, at 1, col. 1. (Tab 43) In an opinion article written for the Los Angeles Times entitled "Subsidizing Smokers -- Something to Burn Over,"' Robert Rosner concluded his article by saying "let's use the occasion of today's 'Great American Smoke Out' to smoke out tobacco economics and return fiscal and respiratory control to the 2/3 of Americans who don't smoke." Nov. 17, 1988. (Tab 5) On November 30, 1988, the Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, presented his office's highest award to Robert Rosner of the Smoking Policy Institute. At the time of the award, Rosner was in Washington to consult with officials of the Environmental Protection Agency. He reportedly accepted Roop's invitation to drop by for what he thought was a courtesy call. Instead, Rosner discovered a television crew ready to film the presentation of the Surgeon General's medallion to him. Rosner credited Koop for encouraging him to form the Institute after the two had worked together on some anti-smoking videotapes in 1985. According to Rosner, the Institute exists mostly on foundation grants and contributions and has worked with about 400 private companies to develop plans to eliminate smoking in the work place. (Tab 47) I - 9 -