Tobacco Documents Online

• : ~:~~; :7f. 4 West 35th Street New York. ti.Y. 10001 212-735-3030 REMARKS BY CHARLES A. LeMAISTRE, M.D. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1984 NEW 3 SERVICE Good morning. On behalf of the Coalition on Smoking OR Health, I thank you for attending this news conference. I am Charles LeMaistre, a physician, and president of the University of Texas System Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. I've been asked by the Coalition to present the response of the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and the American Cancer Society to the welcomed challenge from the Surgeon General of the United States. On May 20th Dr. C. Everett Koop announced a goal for all Americans - a "smoke-free society" by the year 2000. Dr. Koop then called upon the Coalition to be the first to join him and take up this challenge. Today, the member volunteer health agencies of the Coali- tion on Smoking OR Health announce their unity and their deter- mination to assist Dr. Koop and rid America of the single most preventable cause of illness -- and the greatest threat to American health -- cigarette smoking. One third of all cancers, more than 80% of chronic lung disease, and a significant segment of coronary heart disease would disappear in a smoke-free society. The unnecessary loss of the lives of 1,000 men and women each day -- lost because of cigarette smoking, can be prevented by action now - action to inform those who have yet to decide. Over twenty years ago, I was privileged to serve on the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee which presented to Dr. Luther Terry the first Report on Smoking and Health. Not one conclusinn has been refuted; indeed all of the conclusions have been rearzir:ned and enhanced in the last twenty years; yet we do not have a smoke-free generation of Americans. The National Conference on Smoking OR Health in 1981 forged a major commitment to political and social action on smoking. The Conference called on the country's three largest voluntary health agencies - whose representatives are here today - and asked them to take leadership in establishing a .._=tiona'_ coalition, based in lrashinator., to work together on legislation and regulation regarding smoking and public policy. TIMN 215856

LeMaistre -2- That Coalition was formed. It has been most effective in achieving landmark legislation regarding cigarette smoking and today adds to its mission the role of mobilizing these three organizations of volunteers to achieve a "smoke-free young America" by the end of this'century. The ACS, ALA and the AHA have committed to develop and coordinate the most powerful education programs to inform young Americans. We will seek the help of schools, churches, PTAs, family physicians, family units and the nation's largest youth groups in this effort. An example of this coordinated approach is the joint spon- sorship of a November 15th Public Broadcasting System national television special on smoking called "Breathing Easy," directed to teens and their families. The past educational programs of the three agencies pre- sented individually, have been, in large part, responsible for the overall decrease in the teenage smoking rate. We expect our unified approach can accelerate the decline and help reduce the teenage rate to near zero by the year 2000. Learning to smoke takes place in childhood or adolescence. The matter is largely settled by the teens. Our strategy will be directed to convincing young people not to smoke. We will seek to change the behavioral factors that lead young people to cigarette addiction. Discouraging young people - yes, even children - from smoking is essential to our strategy. Success will be dependent upon our ability to continue to convince parents, teachers, public figures and health professionals that their example as non-smokers is important to ward off the seductive enticements of cigarette industry promotions that produce the peer pressure. Social conscience rather than legislation will be the single most important determinant of our ability to achieve a smoke-free society. Our announcement today of the commitment to coordinated, expanded action to bring about America's first smoke-free generation envisages several specific actions. Among these are: 1. Comprehensive health education, kindergarten through grade 12, to provide young people with the established facts of the health consequences from smoking cigarettes;is of para- mount importance in the educational program. 2. We must eliminate the use of models in cigarette adver- tising. Ca_^_ trere be any doub". that the psychological and social needs exploited by these ads showing attractiveness, social acceptability, virility, athletic prowess, economic TIMN 215857

LeMaistre -3- achievement, and... in a more covert way, sexual success, are deliberate attempts to lure teenage smokers? 3. We must put an end to the sponsorship of sports, music, and cultural programs by cigarette companies. Tie-ins with these events surround young people with images of smoking. Tobacco company logos are on all promotional materials. Ads for cigarettes on huge billboards are visible in televised sports events. 4. We must call a halt to the inclusion of unnecessary smoking scenes in programs on television. The presentation of smoking as an innocuous and acceptable part of normal lives is not consistent with the truth, and is particularly confusing to the young. . 5. We must put an end to smoking in the nation's schools. Community acceptance, especially by educators, of teenage smok- ing as normal and not as antisocial behavior defeats the credi- bility of school health education programs and turns existing regulations into futile gestures. 6. We must put an end to cigarette sampling. This industry practice of enticing the smoking habit by giving out free cig- arettes in the streets, at sports events, state fairs, rock concerts and through direct mail offers must cease. 7. We must insist on stronger warnings for cigarette packages and ads. The case for stronger warnings is strength- ened by misleading tobacco advertising campaigns, denying the overwhelming medical evidence and diverting attention from the established causal relationship linking smoking to disease. Passage of the proposals now before Congress is an important first step. 8. We must put an end to widespread sales of cigarettes to minors. Despite the regulations restricting such sales, adolescents have little trouble buying cigarettes in most retail outlets - or - they can easily buy them in vending machines. Cigarette marketing strategies promote social acceptability of smoking. And these strategies attempt to make smoking re- spectable. These.images being planted in the minds of young people must be contested by the known facts and by de-glamourizing smoking and the smoker. Smoking as an expression of identity is not longer tolerable in our society. Dr. Koop is a leader of this country's great scientists and physicians whose diliqent labors have unmasked the role of smoking in disease. The Coalition on Smoking OR Health is delighted that he has taken on this additional leadership role and eagerly joins his campaign. '-T TIMN215858