Tobacco Documents Online

2025004554 .0 PubMcatlon: WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL (Sunday Edition) pale: 12/2/84 Page: A-1 0 :) '.... ,~ Tobacco D Panel s Plan G'ould Cause DemLSe o 0 By Fbyd R.gen b .fto A...+w .-rri j ATLANTA, Ga. -'hro-tblydb of all Americans wbo dl. , befors their tJme also die uunecssaril~, aadc~aret te rob tJem a( Ith. ~ srtwkltg lads the Wt of tbinp that This was the conclusion of a group of prominent pbysi- ~ ciaas, health educators and otrers who met last wsek at the Carter Center of Emory University ~ here to begin a national campaign against preventable disease and pre- mature death. Discussions during the three-day beallh=pollcy conference Indicated that, if many of these authorities had their way, cigarettes would be taxed $1 a pack, the federal support program for tobacco would be abolished, ciga- rette advertising would be banned and smoking would be prohibited in moet public places. wrsw Before the conference eaded, these preliminary rem m- ~ mendations were watered down In deference to pragma- lbm. Even so, the group's final recommendations to former President Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center, if suo cesafuily carried out, would virtually assure the death of the American cigarette industry. They include support for a higher federal ta: on eiga- rettes and elimination of the federal tobacco program, a ban or at least restrictions on advertising and promotions of diarettes, prohibitions on stnoking in sc`ools, rbtrlc- tlons on smoking in the workplace and in health-care IosUata'~ ns and support for damage sulta against tobacco ~pes: Carter, who was a ao-chalt3naa of the cottfereoce, expressed the bope at the end of the meeting Wednesday that "some of the things that we have discussed here today, If the•y are effectively pursued, might YwXsdl 1`4ai!!tl_tb4_dCUJjLeof.C1glfltlS Ae malor cause of bWtA afWi;tJoiu In ovr nation." Dr: Edward N. Brandt Jr., the assistant secretary for health In- the US. Department of Health and Human Services, was Carter's co-chairman: After months of study sponsored by the center, which Carter founded, more than 50 experts on health and economics found that premature. deaths cost Americans about 12 million potential years of life in 1980. They found that 13 health problems caused 80 percent of the prema- ture deaths, which they defined as deaths before age 65. Tobacco was the leading cause of deaths In 1980, killing 316,000 people, they said in a report to the conference, "Closing the Gap." The title was a reference to the gap that exists between what is being done to prevent illnesi.and premature deaths and what could be done. Participants in the five-year project, which is directed by Dr. William H. Foege, an assistant U.S. surgeon gener- al, estimated that deaths, disease and associated costs could be reduced by up to 50 percent i/ the gap was eliminated Grta and Foege told con(ereoce prttkipanb that the number of deaths caused by srnoking apparently has been underestimated: Foege said that a study to be published next month indicates that about /75,000 Americans dle each year as a result of cigarette smoking. Besides tobacco. the conference recommended step that could be taken nationally to reduce dlsease aad deaths from alcohol abuse, In)urlea, unintended pregnau- cies. mental lllness and inadequate prevention services. Recommendations lncluded: - Higher taxes on alcohol, especially beer and wine; restrictions on promotion and.ale of alcoholic beverages; greater emphasis on education about the dangers of alcohol abuse. - Safer automobiles, with passive restraints Including air bags and automatic seatbelts; self-extinguishing ciga= rettes to reduce house fires; gun-control measures; great- er emphasis on safety education.. % - Widespread education on sex and reproduction; pro- motion of abstinence among leen-agers: greater access to contraceptive counseling and services. - An education campaign to reduce the sll" assocl- ated with mental disorders and to increase treatment; greater use of drug-abuse treatment programs. Carter told about 200 people who attended the caifer- ence that his concern for the nation's health is neither newly found nor transient. "Tbis will be a permanent interest of the Carter Center," he said. Political constraints when be was president limited fI1N 1 lCIP \

what be could do to combat smoking, alcohol abuse and other such health hazards, CaFler said. As a private citizen, he is under no such con- straints, be said. The Carter Center's most effective role, be said, will be in bringing peo- ple together to resolve di,putes and to solve problems. Carter said that be foresees such a role even among quarreling nations and certainly among adversary institutions and io-s dustries in this country. Gun-control advocates and-tke Na- tional Rifle Association, for esample, might be invited to the center to try to do something about accidental and iolenl deaths with firearms, be said. "The same thing obviously applies to the tobacco industry (and smoking oppouents)," Carter said. My own sense is that the tobacco industry is beaded inevitably for a ma jor reduction in its aale of ciga- retles, at least in this country. "At the same lime. I see a rapid escalating of the use of ci arettes in otber countriea, and Dr. Foege kas poinled oul tkat pasibly tbe most severe cause of disease and death on a worldwide basis before the end of this century will be cigarette amok- Ing," Carter said.. la tbe last few years, anti-smoking groups have detwunced the American tobacco industry for stepping up marketing efforts in poor,. backward countries to make up for declining sales of cigarettes here. Carter said during an interview that when the Carter Center health- policy project reaches its goals in this country the next step will be consid-n eration of similar problems in other nations - Including a smoking-relat- ed death rate in Third World coun- tries that is rising about 4 percent a year. Desplte the political constraints that prevented his administration and others from taking a bard line against smoking, Carter said that federal government measures "have attenuated the increase in smoking in this country." "The Surgeon General's Report in 1961,1 think, made a profound impact on the consciousness of America, and since that time smoking ... has lev- eled off. There have been about 30 million people who have given up smoking since then," be said.. At the conference here. Carter said, 'There were some optimistic comments made by a former surgeon general .... that the trend is going to be much more strongly down - to 7 or I percent of the population." He said that as a farmer himself be sympathizes with tobacco farmers hurt by the decline in smoking. But be said that they will have to do what cotton farmers have done in his bome county in Georgia - switch from their traditional crop to alternatives. Carter said that one o/ his ma)or investmenls as a young businessman was the purchase of a cottott gin. Now, be said, only 4110 acres or so of cotton are grown in his county, and farmers have switched to soybeans and wheat. "So. I think it's not a suicidal pros- pect that farmers will have to reduce their tobacco production at some time in lhe future," be said. "It's more a matter of adjustment to changing ~ times." Dr. Jesse L. Steinfeld, a former U.S. surgeon general who is nowpres ident of the Medical College of Geor- gia, told conference participants that a recent decision in a federal court in New Jersey could change the times sooner than anyone had thought. A judge in US. District Court ruled that warning labels on cigarette packs do not make tobacco compa- nies immune from lawsuits by -Wng cancer victims or others hurt by smoking. If this "landmark decision" leads to successful suits against tobacco companies, Steinfeld said, il could lead to the death of the iadustry. I Steinfeld was the leader of the I group of scientists and economis lts ; .that recommended measures the Carter Center should take to combat smokiag. Perhaps the group's most far-reaching recommendation was one to make the center a repository for resources and legal data to help smoking victims or their survivors sue tobacco companies. Such suits, Carter said, could have an immediate impact- "lt the distributors of ci arettes felt that they would be subject to multimillion-dollar lawsuits from cancer victims, that would be poten- tially as much of a concern as It has been with the asbestas industry, which went into voluntary bankrupt- cy ... in order to avoid the conse- quettce of multiple lawsuits. "Whether that will happen, I have no idea " Carter said. "I can't predict that il will l:appen, but there is a growing concern, I think, in tAe pub• lic about the damagiag effect of ciga- relte smoking." I sss~ooszoz