Tobacco Documents Online

February 23, 1994 From: Josh Slavitt Subject: AMA Media Briefing Attached is a synopsis of AMA's February 22 Media Briefing sponsored by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. The goal of the briefing was, to present new research on health effects of tobacco, marketing tactics of the tobacco industry and new efforts at tobacco control. The briefing ran 6 hours. Coverage included: CNN, ABC-News, WCBS-Radio, Reuters, AP, Glamour, UP, NBC News. Full press participation is provided in the synopsis. The speakers were: Randolph Smoak, MD, AMA Trustee: His key points was that what distinguishes tobacco from other preventable diseases is that the tobacco industry fights back. Nancy Kaufman, V.P. Robert Woods Johnson Foundation: Kaufman set the tone of the briefing: convincing kids not to smoke, removing tobacco from the kid's market, converting farmers to other crops, "Smokeless States and Smokeless Families" programs. George Lundberg, MD, JAMA Editor: Tobacco is addictive. Air should be tobacco free, publications should voluntarily stop carrying tobacco ads. David Satcher, MD, CDC Director: Anti-Smoking focus should be expanded beyond health to understand the total social, economical, and political effects of smoking. Michael Eriksen, MD, CDC: Set the tone for the upcoming Surgeon General Report, by identifying six categories: Youth Prevention, Treating Nicotine Addiction, Protecting Non-Smokers, Countering tobacco advertising and promotion, Pricing and other economic strategies, regulation of tobacco (labeling, etc.). Jeffrey Harris, MD, Ph.D., MIT: An economist who discussed arguments that would be mounted against a tobacco tax increase. Gideon Korean, MD: Discussed effected of smoking on unborn children, as well as effects on newborn babies -- low birth weight, SIDS. Elizabeth Klonoff, Ph.D. California State University: Presented study on the sale of single cigarettes and discussed them as a targeting tool for minorities and children. Michael Fiore, MD, MPH, U. Wisconsin: Discussed quitting.patters and cessation techniques including patches, therapy. John Pierce, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego: Reviewed his new study on targeted advertising towards women which utilizes Virginia Slims advertising research (published this month in JAMA, copy of study is available).

We also obtained the following materials from the conference and can provide copies at your request: 1) AMA News Releases on Media Briefing (attachment): - Battle to Get America to Stop Smoking No Basis for Optimism - Passive Cigarette Smoke Found in Fetal Hair - Minors in Minority Neighborhoods Sold Single Cigarettes - First Two Weeks Critical in Efforts to Quit Smoking - Tobacco Ads Worked Well To Get Young Girls to Smoke - Biographies: Satcher, Eriksen, Harris, Kaufman, Klonoff, Fiore, Koren, Pierce 2) A Comparison of Active and Passive Smoking During Pregnancy: Long-Term Effects (Neurotoxicolog, and Teratology, Vol. 13, pp. 5-12, 1991) 3) Road to Addiction, Tobacco Sales and Minors (Backgrounder) 4) Key Issues: Cigarette Excise Taxes (Statement of Jeffrey E. Harris) 5) 9th World Conference on Tobacco and Health, Paris, October 10-14, 1994 (program) 6) Tobacco Use: An American Crisis, Final Conference Report And Recommendation From America's Health Community (AMA publication) 7) Coalition on Smoking OR Health FTC Petition on deceptive advertising 8) Criteria for Evaluating a Ban on the Advertisement of Cigarettes (JAMA, February 17, 1993) 9) Call For Proposals: Smokeless States: Statewide Tobacco Prevention and Control Initiatives (Robert Woods Foundation Monologue) 10) Changing Channels: A New Era in Medical Communications (Advocacy Monologue, Funded by Pfizer) 11) How to Help Patients Stop Smoking: Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Nicotine Dependency (AMA Monologue) 12) Smoking Initiation by Adolescent Girls, 1944 Through 1988 (Journal of the American Medical Association, February 23, 1994) 13) Sponsored Symposia on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (Journal of the American Medical Association, February 23, 1994)