Tobacco Documents Online

r g~an pot s AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER A22 FRiDxY:11iD11EatRER 22: 198n Seeondhand Smoke ~' N RECENT YEARS tobacco companies, cae- ~ aerned about the growing movement to restrict~ smoking in public places, have directed an in- ceassatg share d their advertising budget&tb the nonsmoker. The companies propose in ads that the whole controversy be treated as a question of'man- ners rather than, one of: cancer: emphysema and heart disease. If ' we are all just tolerant of our neighbor's right to smoke, the message goes, then smokers might be persuaded to forgp the habit dur- csg, mcpensive meals, small dosed-noomt confer: ences and'tours of firecracker factories. The latest series of advertisements, now appear- ing in full-page spreads across the country. seeks to allav the fears of abstainers-two-thirds of the adult population-who are justifiably concerned that the smoke others generate is harming them. Even the Tobacco Institute's own surveys show i hat a majority favors segregating smokers ini trains, airplanes, theaters, restaurants, work places. offces and the like. And that majority has begun to speak up loud and'. clear. To counter this campaign the tobacco companies question the scientific basis for the fear, as they had for years disputed the surgeon general's findings on the tan- gers to smokers themselves. The complaints of nonsmokers, they imply, are unreasonable. It is, in fact, these lears and phobias [thatj can kad'to dl health," .ne are told, so we should stop malang "a medical problem out d'a aocaal!one." What do the scientists say? Surgeon Gesxral ~ C. Everett Koop presented some persuasive testi- tmony at a r~ecent Senate hearing. In the last three years, he said, 15 pubiishedlstudies ezamined the. }btk between passive atttok'sng and cancer, onlyy three did!not show a statis3ically signifscant posit2vee correlation between the two. While nonsmokers naturally absorb fewer carcinogens than alnokers; there is evidence that those exposed only in the work place--not at all at home-suffer the same impairment of some breathing functions as light smokers. Abstaining: spouses of smokers have had higher rates of' lung, cancer than similar spouses of nonsmokers. The.surgeon general warns that more recent studies indicate that nonsmokers may also be at risk for devebging beart diseasr from second- hand'smoke. hioaamokers.vho.vaat to breathe dean aff are mot fiaicky aanks; intoierattt of the rights d' others, as the tobacco campany ads would iead you to believe. Their o*ctimns are well-founded, as the increasing weight d'acientasc evidence d°sr>mnstrates. Believing industry claims that secondhand smoke is nothing to .worry, about oouid be dangerous to yoia healt;h.. ©-T

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