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1/17/91 ANTI-SMOKING ZEALOTS - H. E. OsMON - GOOD MORNING. WHOEVER SAIDv"THE ONLY CONSTANT IN LIFE IS CHANGE" WAS A TRUE CHAMPION OF UNDERSTATEMENT. FORTY YEARS AGO SMOKING WAS FASHIONABLE. ALMOS 2 HALF OF THE POPULATION SMOKED. HUMPHREY BOGART AND PETER LORRE FILLED THE SCREEN WITH SMOKE, AND BETTE DAVIS TURNED SMOKING INTO AN ART FORM. FAIR PLAY AND GETTING ALONG WERE THE ORDER OF THE DAY AND NO ONE TRIED TO DICTATE SOCIAL STANDARDS AND PERSONAL BEHAVIOR. BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED. TODAY,\J`fHE TOBACCO INDUSTRY LIVES IN A HOSTILE WORLD. A WORLD FILLED WITH DISCRIMINATION, RUDENESS, AND ZEALOTRY. w HOW DID SMOKING,VONCE A SIMPLE PLEASURE ENJOYED AND ACCEPTED BY THE PEOPLE, BECOME THE SUBJECT OF SQ-MUCH DISDAIN AND MORAL"OUTRAGE? AND WHERE IS ALL THIS GOING TO LEAD?

FIRST,vYOU NEED TO BE AWARE THAT THE PRESENT . HOSTILITY TOWARD TOBACCO ISN'T SOMETHING THAT JUST HAPPENED IN THE LAST FEW YEARS. THERE HAVE BEEN ANTI-SMOKERS ALMOST AS LONG AS THERE HAVE BEEN SMOKERS. IN FACT, 6 AMONG THE EARLIEST CRITICS WAS KING,JAMES I OF ENGLAND, WHO SAID, IN 1604, THAT SMOKING WAS "A CUSTOM LOATHSOME TO THE EYE, HATEFUL TO THE NOSE, HARMFUL TO THE BRAIN, DANGEROUS TO THE LUNGS, AND IN THE BLACK, STINKING FUME THEREOF, NEAREST RESEMBLING THE HORRIBLE STIGIAN SMOKE OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT." (THE BOTTOMLESS PIT IS HELL.) KING JAMES OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T CARE MUCH FOR SMOKING. IN FACT, HE MADE SURE IT WAS DANGEROUS TO HEALTH -- HE TORTURED PEOPLE FOR SMOKING, AND HE EVEN BEHEADED SOME OF THEM. BUT EVEN THAT DIDN'T PREVENT SMOKING, AND BEFORE LONG IT WAS WIDESPREAD IN ENGLAND AND EUROPE.

THE HISTORYvOF SMOKING HAS FOLLOWED THAT KIND OF . PATTERN EVER SINCE. THAT IS, SINCE THE BEGINNING, SMOKING ALTERNATED BETWEEN BEING ACCEPTED, THEN BEING CONDEMNED, THEN BEING ACCEPTED, AND SO ON. THE SAME PATTERN HAS BEEN TRUE IN THE UNITED STATES. SMOKING WAS ACCEPTED AND WIDESPREAD IN THE 1700'S, BUT EARLY IN THE 1800'S IT BEGAN TO FALL UNDER CRITICISM. ONE OF THE EARLIEST AMERICAN CRITICS WAS -- BELIEVE IT OR NOT -- THE SURGEON GENERAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON'S ARMY, A DR. BENJAMIN RUSH, WHO 8 CRITICIZED TOBACCO BECAUSE ITS USE "EXCITED THE DESIRE FOR STRONG DRINK" WHICH, HE SAID, LED TO INTEMPERANCE. THAT IS, SMOKING CAUSED DRUNKENNESS. OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS THE ANTI-SMOKING SENTIMENT GREW. THE 9 NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER HORACE GREELEY OF "GO WEST, YOUNG MAN" FAME ALSO SAID, "A BOY WHO SMOKES TOBACCO HAS NO FUTURE." A VIRGINIAN NAMED JOHN CROCKER SAID IN 1830 THAT "A CIGAR IS A DEVICE WITH A FIRE AT ONE END AND A FOOL AT THE OTHER."

THROUGH THE 1840'S AND '50'S, THE CRITICISMS INCREASED, . AND MEDICAL PEOPLE STARTED CLAIMING THAT SMOKING CAUSED DISEASES. THESE DISEASES 1 INCLUDED SUCH THINGS AS LUNG DISEASE, IMPAIRED VISION, LOSS OF INTELLIGENCE, BIRTH DEFECTS, NERVOUSNESS, STERILITY, AND INSANITY. THERE WASV ALSO A LOT OF MENTION THAT USING TOBACCO LED TO MORAL DECAY. THE CHURCHES GOT INTO THE ACT, AND ANTI-TOBACCO MESSAGES WERE PREACHED FROM THE PULPIT. THE METHODISTS EVEN WENT SO FAR AS TO NOT LET ANYONE WHO SMOKED TOBACCO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH. A STRONG ANTI-SMOKING MOVEMENT WAS UNDER WAY. AND THEN,Nq RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THIS ANTI- SMOKING ZEALOTRY CAME THE CIVIL WAR. SUDDENLY, IT DIDN'T SEEM TO BE ALL THAT IMPORTANT WHETHER A MAN SMOKED OR DRANK. -

THE SOLDIERS SPENT A LOT OF TIME DOING BOTH AND, . WHEN THEY RETURNED FROM THE WAR, THEY HAD NO INTEREST IN CHANGING THEIR HABITS. SO, SMOKING ENTERED AN ACCEPTANCE CYCLE, AND THE ANTI-SMOKING ZEALOTS GOT QUIET. THIS LASTED ABOUT 15 YEARS. - IT ALL V STARTED UP AGAIN IN THE 1870'S. BACK CAME ALL THE FORMER HEALTH CLAIMS, THIS TIME ADDING HEART DISEASE, BALDNESS, AND CONSTIPATION. AND BACK CAME THE CLAIMS THAT SMOKING LED TO MORAL DECAY, PARTICULARLY AMONG YOUNG BOYS. (APPARENTLY YOUNG GIRLS DIDN'T SMOKE.) THE CLAIMED Nq EFFECTS ON HEALTH AND MORALS WAS A CONTINUING AND GROWING THEME OF THE NEXT 40-ODD YEARS. THE MOVEMENT GAINED NEW ENERGY AROUND 1900, WITH THE RISE OF LUCY GASTON AND HER ANTI-CIGARETTE LEAGUE. _ BY 1910, FAMOUS PEOPLE LIKE VTHOMAS EDISON, HENRY FORD, AND MANY OTHERS WERE PUBLICLY CRITICIZING-- SMOKING. BUSINESSES BEGAN ELIMINATING SMOKING IN THE WORKPLACE AND REFUSING TO HIRE SMOKERS.

DURING THE PUSH FOR PROHIBITION, V WILL ROGERS SAID, . "THE MINUTE THEY GET PROHIBITION, THEY WILL HOP ON TO SOMETHING ELSE. IT WILL BE CIGARETTES ... OR SOMETHING." SURE ENOUGH, RIGHT AFTER PROHIBITION WAS RATIFIED, BILLY SUNDAY SAID, "PROHIBITION IS WON. NOW FOR TOBACCO." THE MOVEMENT KEPT UP ITS AGITATION, AND EVENTUALLY IT STARTED TO HAVE LEGISLATIVE EFFECTS. OVER THE 9 NEXt SEVERAL YEARS, 15 STATES PASSED LAWS BANNING THE SALE OF CIGARETTES, AND IT LOOKED LIKE CIGARETTES WERE ON THE WAY OUT. BUT THEN T/ ALONG CAME WORLD WAR I, FOLLOWED BY THE LAWLESSNESS OF PROHIBITION, AND PEOPLE BEGAN TO LOSE INTEREST IN MORAL REFORMISTS AND THEIR MESSAGES. THE ANTI-CIGARETTE LAWS WERE REPEALED AND, BY THE EARLY YEARS OF THE DEPRESSION, BOTH PROHIBITION AND THE ANTI-SMOKING MOVEMENT WERE OVER. THIS BEGAN ANOTHER 30 YEARS OF SMOKING ACCEPTANCE.

THEV REASON I WENT INTO THIS HISTORY IS TO PUT THE CURRENT ANTI-SMOKING MOVEMENT INTO PERSPECTIVE. TIMES ARE TOUGH RIGHT NOW. SMOKING AND THE TOBACCO BUSINESS ARE UNDER A LOT OF PRESSURE FROM A LOT OF DIRECTIONS. BUT THISV IS NOT THE FIRST TIME IT HAS HAPPENED. NOR THE SECOND. NOR THE THIRD. TOBACCO HAS BEEN GOING THROUGH THESE CYCLES FOR 400 YEARS. AND THE TOBACCO BUSINESS IS STILL HERE. AND THERE ARE STILL 50 MILLION AMERICANS WHO CHOOSE TO SMOKE. THE NEGATIVEVCYCLE WHICH IS WITH US TODAY BEGAN IN THE 1960'S. IT GOT'fITS MOMENTUM FROM THE FIRST SURGEON GENERAL'S REPORT ON SMOKING IN 1964. THAT REPORT ONCE AGAIN RAISED THE ISSUE OF CLAIMED HEALTH EFFECTS OF SMOKING. 7HE REPORT BEGAN TWO DECADES OF ACTIVITY FOCUSED ON'VCONYINCING SMOKERS OF THE CLAIMED DANGERS OF SMOKING. THE GOAL WAS TO SCARE THEM INTO QUIITING. _

AND, IN FACT, LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE DID QUIT. BUT . THE ANTI-SMOKING ZEALOTS WEREN'T SATISFIED, BECAUSE THEY WANTED EVERYONE TO QUIT. THEY BECAME FRUSTRATED BECAUSE THERE WERE STILL MILLIONS OF PEOPLE SMOKING, AND THE NUMBER WASN'T GETTING SMALLER. - SO,V ABOUT 10 OR 12 YEARS AGO, THEY DECIDED TO CHANGE THEIR STRATEGY. THEY-DECIDED THAT THE BEST WAY TO PUT NEW LIFE INTO THE MOVEMENT WAS TO FOCUS LESS ON THE SMOKER AND INSTEAD ENLIST NON-SMOKERS IN THE WAR AGAINST SMOKING AND CAST THE SMOKER AS A SOCIAL OUTCAST. THAT WAS V THE BEGINNING OF THE ATTACK ON ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO SMOKE -- SO-CALLED "SECOND-HAND SMOKE." THEY WANTED TO CREATE THE IMPRESSION THAT ETS WAS A SERIOUS HEALTH THREAT TO NON-SMOKERS.- IT DIDN'T MATTER THAT THEIR ALLEGATIONS WEREN'TIBASED ON SOUND SCIENCE.' THEY"DID NOT HAVE TO BE ACCURATE TO BE EFFECTIVE.

AS A RESULT, `ff FREEDOMS WE ONCE TOOK FOR GRANTED ARE NOW BEING THREATENED. • FREEDOM V OF CHOICE -- THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS TO MAKE UP THEIR OWN MINDS AND WORK OUT THEIR OWN DIFFERENCES -- IS BEING THREATENED BY SMOKING RESTRICTION LAWS. • FREEDOM Vu OF SPEECH -- THE RIGHTS OF MANUFACTURERS TO CONMUNICATE WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS -- IS BEING THREATENED WITH CENSORSHIP. • FREEDOM FROM V UNFAIR TAXATION -- THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIES TO ONLY PAY A "FAIR SHARE" TAX BURDEN -- IS BEING THREATENED BY DISCRIMINATORY EXCISE TAXES. _ NOW, SOME OF YOU MAY BELIEVE THAT THE PRESENT ANTI- SMOKING MOVEMENT, AND THE PRESSURES ON OUR BUSI,NESS AND THREATS TO OUR FREEDOMS THAT HAVE RESULTED, AROSE SPONTANEOUSLY FROM THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE AND IS MOVING ALONG ON ITS OWN NATURAL MOMENTUM.