Tobacco Documents Online

INFOTAB "'"" '°"= '"'""°" °"" Centre international d'lnfo.nltlon du Tsba¢ September 19, 1986 To : See Distribution List Environmental Tobacco Smoke - Vienna Conference Please find enclosed a letter from the Coordinator of the WHO Smoking and Health Programme to a U.S. researcher, and which was sent to one of our associations by a local ASH chapter, commenting on WHO's lack of association with the Conference "Passive Smoking from a Medical Point of View" which was organized in Vienna in April, 1984. The Proceedings of this Conference, published in Preventive Medicine, (Vol. 13, No. 6, November, 1984), do not clearly list the sponsors of the Conference. The WHO magazine World Health (May, 1985), in its "News Page" states that: "It was organized by the Austrian Society for Industrial Medicine, the German Society for Occupational Medicine, the American Health Foundation and the Bavarian AcadenI for Industrial and Social Medicine, in conjunction with WHO and the International Green Cross". In various reference documents distributed by us, the proceedings of this meeting and, in particular, a press statement of its organizers, are quoted as saying that "should lawmakers wish to take legislative measures with regard to passive smoking, they will, for the present, not be able to base their efforts on a demonstrated health hazard from passive smoking". We all are aware of the documents mentioned in the last paragraph of the enclosed letter. Their conclusion that "passive smoking is a cause of cancer", is in our view, an overstatement. In fact, the IARC document while concluding that ETS "gives rise to some risk of cancer", makes the following statement on epidemiological studies on ETS and cancer risk: "The observations on nonsmokers that have been made so far are compatible, with either an increased risk from 'passive' smoking or an absence of risk". (p. 314) o/Roe Rue Montoyer 10 - Bte 2 8-1040 Brussels Belgium Tel. 021511.91.10 Telex 24218 Fix 02/513.60•43 "FVA 419.753.543 C (_, r~ u BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

Page 2 Intomstlm~ T~Hlcoo ~ Ce~w Cimlre int~nldlol~ ~ du Tabac / We also note that the Garfinkel et al. study, while reporting an increased risk of lung cancer, cautions that the increase was not statistically significant. In the meantime, we suggest that no association be made between the above Vienna meeting and WHO. Best regards. Yours sincerely, Antonietta Corti Director of Information Services Enclosure: AC:jg IS:1115:86 BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

..HEALTHORGANIZ'AT~ON • ° ORGANISATION bJ_O_NDIALE DE LA SANrE Copies of your letter dated Hay 22, 1986 addressed to 5tanCon Glantz, University of California at San Francisco, concerning a workshop on passive smoking held in Vienna in April 1984 were passed on to me by various organizations for c~ents. It seems thaC man~- readers have been mislead specifically by one among the several opening speeches which appear in the workshop proceedings in page 5~5 of PREVENTIVE MEDECINE ~ 13(6) 1984. That particular speech wrongly referred to the World Health Organization as having sponsored the Vienna Workshop. The World Health Organization has not granted the workshop any kind of sponsorship or support. It limited itself to sending one obsel-ver, whose attendan~ report (copy available on request) defined the workshop as "a scholarly exerclse in futility" and suggested that "WHO disassocla[e itself from this type of exercise". However, rather than dwelling on a by now scienci£1cally obsolete workshop, I think it would be much more useful to consider =he 1985 article on passive smoking and lung cancer by L. Garfinkel, the WHO/IARC monograph no. 38 on Tobacco Smoking, also published in 1985, and the resolution of th~ !9~ World Health Assembly (~.q~A 39.1~: TOBACCO OK HEALTK~. I am sure every scientist who keeps abreast with recent developments is familiar with these documents, all of which condemn passive smoking as a cause of cancer. This reflects WHO's views on the issue. Yours sincerely, CD -..j BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

Letter sent to No l's of EEC countries (incl.Germany) with copy to Switzerland and Finland C,C- Mr. W.S. Hill Dr. R.E. Thorntoq Mr. N. Cannar Mr. R.L.O. Ely EUROPEAN C;~MPAIGN AGAIN! C'.°.-".:'c" ~ .. D C[~TRE 03 SEP 1986 ~ ......... " ................ 2 ............................ e Fib: ,T C.~'|~.ER ........... th August 19~6 As you will of course be aware, the European Campaign Against Cancer is gathering momentum, and smoking is one of the matters being highlighted because of the part it is alleged to play in causation. You will probably have seen the various documents sent by INFOTAB to the NMAs. Bryan Simpson is co- ordinating this work with a number of internal working groups and the latest letter is dated 29th July and signed by Richard Corner. I attach a copy for ready reference. BAT has felt since the beginning that this is an extremely important issue and has been closely working with INFOTAB tO take whatever action is necessary. The purpose of this letter is to ask you to stimulate as much drive as possible with your Trade Association (NMA} and establish any contacts that you might consider useful. If you are in any doubt about progress or how our various task forces established by the European Nh~s are progressing, you should get in direct touch with INFOTAB. O "-4 t~4 ~O ~O CO BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999