Tobacco Documents Online

By JOSEPH SJOSTROM Special to the Daily New's Y OU'VE COME THE wrong way, baby, if you smoke, says the Women's Medical Association of New York City. Angered by Virginia Slims' sponsorship of the women's 'We find tt unconscionable for a clgaret maker to sponsor the even#.' tennis championships in New York this week, the 350-mem- ber association intends to pro- test the matches. "New York City's women physicians find it unconsciona- ble for a cigaret company to sponsor a sporting event," says Dr. Barbara Bartlik, president of the association. "Philip Mor- ,ris;.manufacturer of Virginia Slims cigarets, sponsors wom- en's tennis to deceive young girls about the unhealthy con- sequences of smoking." Wearing white smocks and stethoscopes, members will picket tonight and tomorrow evening outside Madison Square Garden, site of the $3 million Virginia Slims Champi- onship. The doctors' theme is "You've coughed up enough phlegm, baby," a corruption of Virginia Slim's slogan, "You've come a long way, baby." The doctors and Smokefree Education Services, a New York-based activist group, hope to generate enough public pressure to drive Virginia Slims out of sponsoring wom- en's tennis here. Sheila Banks, director of media affairs for Philip Morris USA, says the company takes exception to the protest. "What sponsorship does is promote tennis, good tennis. If people don't smoke, they're not going to start because they watched tennis," Banks says. e~owcl, -~v sa7~~n~ your ciuar ; l~Gk #JA*,.( i},~,~ 7 , .