Tobacco Institute
'Untitled' (Film on Smoking and Lung Cancer)
Fields
- Alias
- TIOK0027320 - TIOK0027341
- Type
- OTHER
- Characteristic
- DRAFT
- Date Loaded
- 24 May 1999
- Request
- Ok1-21
- Litigation
- Oklahoma AG
- Box
- 180
- UCSF Legacy ID
- kxu91f00
Document Images
D R A F T
"UNTITLED"
(Film on Smoking and Lung Cancer)
Special Proj ects
April 20, 1982
TIOK 0027321

1
INTERIOR A "VIDEO CONTROL" ENVIRONMENT. THE CAMERA HOLDS TO
ESTABLISH A BANK OF MONITORS WITH A VARIETY OF IMAGES ON THE
SCREENS: FACES OF PEOPLE, INTERIORS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
LABORATORIES, CHARTS, A GLOWING BANK OF NUMBERS, AND -- FINALLY
-- THE TITLE OF THE FILM.
CAMERA PANS TO REVEAL RICHARD ANDERSON SEATED, READING PAPERS.
HE ACKNOWLEDGES CAMERA, AND SPEAKS TO THE AUDIENCE.
DICK (SYNC):
Medical science has produced remarkable
results: the polio vaccine, penicillin, the
infant mortality rate has dropped in many
instances. The accomplishments go on and on.
The list is impressive because there are a
great many intelligent, hard-working
professionals engaged fulltime in solving
life's medical mysteries.
CU DICK, ANOTHER ANGLE.
But the mysteries still exist. There are
the obvious ones:. sudden infant death
syndrome, Parkinson's disease, Downes
Syndrome, the whole area of birth defects,
the brain.
TIOK 0027322

2
DICK (SYNC):
There are the not-so-obvious mysteries:
Reyes Syndrome, a long list of diseases
that are not well known -- but nevertheless
bring great suffering to many people.
CU DICK, ANOTHER ANGLE.
Tragedies... all of them.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy of all is when
an important medical question has not been
answered, but most everyone thinks it has.
That's a tragedy of a different sort.
DICK WALKS FROM BEHIND CONSOLE AND RESTS ON EDGE OF DESK.
Let's take a look at something everyone
believes to be true...the matter of cigarette
smoking and lung cancer.
CAMERA MOVES PAST DICK TO MONITOR WITH GLOWING BANK OF NUMBERS.
TIOK 0027323

3
DICK (VO):
We asked 1,500 adult Americans -- selected
at random -- what they thought.
We travelled to cities throughout the United
States and asked this question:
CU MONITOR WITH TEXT OF QUESTION "DOES CIGARETTE SMOKING CAUSE
CANCER?"
DICK (VO):
Does cigarette smoking cause lung cancer?
CUT TO MONITORS WITH FACES OF INDIVIDUALS. SCREEN FILLS WITH
ONE OF THOSE FACES.
WOMAN (SYNC):
No doubt in my mind. Cigarettes cause lung
cancer.
ANOTHER INTERVIEW.
MAN (SYNC):
Learned that a dozen years ago in school.
The answer is "yes."
TIOK 0027324

4
ANOTHER INTERVIEW.
MAN (SYNC):
Are you kidding me? Everyone knows that.
DICK, CU.
DICK (SYNC):
Most people we talked to believe smoking
causes lung cancer. But medical science isn't
so sure. A good many scientists do feel that
cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. But a
number of scientists feel the jury is still out.
CAMERA MOVES PAST DICK TO MONITOR WITH STERLING IN CU.
DICK (VO):
Dr. Theodore Sterling of Canada's prestigious
Simon-Fraser University...
CU DR. STERLING.
TIOK 0027325

5
DR. STERLING (SYNC):
Does cigarette smoking cause lung cancer?
Well, I don't think anyone knows ... there
are a lot of statistics which suggest that
it does
But -- speaking as a scientist --
there are just too many questions without
answers.
DR. STERLING, ANOTHER ANGLE.
I've taken a hard look at some of those
questions. For instance, I've found that
among smokers who got lung cancer, a good
many of them were also exposed repeatedly
to a variety of dangerous fumes and dust.
Was it the cigarette smoking or the dust and
the fumes? Was it the combination?
We don't know.
CU, DICK.
DICK (SYNC):
We don't know. How can that be?
T101K 0027326

6
DICK (SYNC):
Haven't there been years of medical
research -- using animals and all sorts
of research techniques?
MONITOR SHOWING LABORATORY ANIMALS.
DICK (VO):
Laboratory animals? Well, it wasn't too
long ago that a well-respected medical
researcher, Dr. Alvan Feinstein, wrote.
MONITOR SHOWING QUOTATION FROM DR. FEINSTEIN'S ARTICLE.
DICK (VO):
No well designed and well conducted
experiments have shown that cigarette
smoke causes lung cancer in animals.
MS DICK, RESTING ON EDGE OF DESK.
T1OK 0027327

7
DICK (SYNC):
If medical research hasn't shown smoking
causes lung cancer in animals, why is everyone
so,sure?
CAMERA FOLLOWS DICK AS HE STANDS UP AND WALKS TO REVEAL MONITORS.
DICK (SYNC):
The answer is statistics. Numbers.
Are they conclusive? There's no doubt in
my mind that statistics...and statistical
methods...are a clever tool.
CAMERA ON MONITOR WITH GLOWING BANK OF NUMBERS.
DICK (VO):
Let's take a look at one kind of
statistics: Opinion research. We asked
our panel of 1,500 adult Americans: Are
the statistics about cigarette smoking and
lung cancer conclusive? Do they leave any
doubt in your mind?
T10K 0027328

8
MONITOR SHOWS RAPIDLY TOTALING NUMBER SHOWING THAT MOST RESPONDENTS
ARE SATISFIED WITH THE STATISTICAL EVIDENCE.
DICK, CU.
DICK (SYNC):
What do they think in Boston...in San Francisco...
Atlanta...around the U.S.?
CAMERA MOVES TO MONITORS WITH INDIVIDUAL FACESi SCREEN FILLS WITH
FACE OF ONE MAN STANDING IN FRONT OF A SUPER MARKET.
MAN (SYNC):
Statistics? Sure, when it comes to cigarettes,
that's all the evidence I need.
A WOMAN'S FACE FILLS THE SCREEN, ANOTHER LOCATION.
WOMAN (SYNC):
Statistics? Well, I've heard liars figure
and figures lie. But, I'm not so sure about
this one. There's an awful lot of statistics
which show smoking causes lung cancer.
T1OK 0027329

- 9 -
ANOTHER WOMAN, ANOTHER LOCATION.
WOMAN (SYNC):
No doubt in my mind. Numbers tell it all.
CAMERA RETURNS TO DICK IN FRONT OF CONSOLE. TO HIS LEFT IS A BOWL
OF APPLES. DICK TOSSES APPLE IN THE AIR, CATCHES IT.
DICK (SYNC):
Numbers tell it all? Well, using the same
statistical methods used by most medical
researchers, I can show you a'close relationship
between the consumption of apples in Brooklyn,
N.Y. and the birth rate in Chicago.
DICK PUTS APPLE BACK IN BOWL.
DICK, ANOTHER ANGLE.
DICK (SYNC):
No, numbers don't tell it all. But they can
help sort through a lot of information:
Numbers can help scientists decide what to
study. But, statistics just plain don't
prove anything. TIOK 0027330

DICK (SYNC):
At best, they're a big help; at worst, terribly
misleading.
CAMERA MOVES TO MONITOR WITH U.S. MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF GREATEST
INCIDENCE OF LUNG CANCER.
DICK (VO):
For instance, you take a look at some general
statistics about smoking and lung cancer and
you would get the idek that wherever smokers
live, the lung cancer rate is high. Makes sense.
But, it isn't so.
STATISTICAL READOUTS BY GEORGRAPHIC AREA.
DICK (VO):
Look at this. From the National Cancer Institute...
New Jersey. The petroleum regions...the heavy
manufacturing areas...this is where lung cancer is
heaviest. Are these the areas where smokers are
most likely to live? No, smokers live all over
the United States.
T1OK 0027331

- 11 -
CUT TO INTERNATIONAL GRAPHICS ON MONITOR.
DICK (VO):
Internationally there are a lot of questions;
questions not answered but raised by statistics.
MONITOR SHOWS CLOSEUP OF U.S. AND CANADA. STATISTICS SUPER OVER
MAP OUTLINES.
DICK (VO):
The U.S. and Canada have the highest per
capita cigarette consumption in the world,
but they rank eigth and 15th respectively
in lung cancer deaths of males.
MONITOR CHANGES TO EUROPE OUTLINE.
DICK (VO):
Conversely, the United Kingdom, Finland
and the Netherlands have lower per capita
consumption than the U.S. and Canada, but
they have far higher lung cancer death rates.
TIOK 0027332

- 12 -
SUPER STATISTICS OVER MAP OUTLINES.
DICK (VO):
Number? Let's take an even closer look.
After all, the evidence about smoking and
lung cancer depends on numbers. Where do
the numbers come from?
CAMERA MOVES TO A MONITOR WITH THE FACE OF A PHYSICIAN, A MEDICAL
EXAMINER.
MEDICAL EXAMINER:
We get most of our lung cancer statistics
from death certificates...you know, the form
that is filled out in the hospital when
someone dies. The problem is they're not
terribly accurate. A lot of it is based on
guesswork. You can't really know the cause of
death without an autopsy, and autopsies are
performed in relatively few cases -- maybe
one in five.
DICK, CU.
TIOK 0027333

DICK (SYNC):
Here's another interesting fact we uncovered
on the subject of autopsies and statistics.
Can doctors look at a lung and know if the
person was a smoker? We put this question
to our panel of 1,500 American adults.
CAMERA MOVES TO MONITOR SHOWING TEXT OF QUESTION AND BANK OF NUMBERS.
NUMBERS TOTAL RAPIDLY SHOWING A LARGE PERCENTAGE WHO BELIEVE DOCTORS
CAN LOOK AT A LUNG AND DETERMINE WHETHER THE PERSON SMOKED.
DICK (VO):
Let's talk to some folks directly and
get their answers.
CAMERA MOVES TO THE MONITORS WITH THE INDIVIDUAL FACES. A MAN APPEARS.
MAN (SYNC):
Sure. I understand a smoker's lung gets all
black over time.
WOMAN IS ON THE NEXT MONITOR.
T1OK 0027334

WOMAN (SYNC):
That's probably the tar and nicotine you're
talking about. Sure, I've seen pictures...
I guess.
ANOTHER WOMAN.
WOMAN (SYNC):
Smoker's lungs are definitely blacker... makes
sense.
DICK, CU.
DICK (SYNC):
Well, maybe it makes sense because it's been
said so often. But that doesn't make it true.
Let's look at the Congressional Record, testimony
from a pathologist who has looked at thousands
of lungs. . .
CAMERA MOVES TO MONITOR WHERE THESE WORDS ARE DISPLAYED.
TIOK 0027335

PATHOLOGIST (VO):
It is not possible, grossly or microscopically,
or in any other way known to me, to distinguish
between the lung of a smoker or a nonsmoker.
DICK (VO):
At the same hearing, another expert said:
NEW TEXT DISPLAYED ON MONITOR.
EXPERT (VO):
I would estimate that of a thousand pathologists
in this country 998 would say, 'I could not tell'
and two would say 'I could tell' and that those
two who could tell either had some divine
intuition or were not telling the truth.
DICK, WALKING BEHIND CONSOLE.
DICK (SYNC):
Pretty strong words.
TIOK p02733b
~

DICK SITS DOWN. MONITORS IN BKG.
DICK (SYNC):
Well what have we found so far?
We started by agreeing that most people believe
cigarette smoking causes cancer...but we found
that some scientists aren't so sure...
CUT TO MONITOR AND REPRISE FACES OF INTERVIEWEES. THEN CUT TO
MONITOR WITH EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL FOOTAGE.
DICK (V0):
We found that most people believe that
extensive laboratory experiments involving
animals is the basis of knowing that smoking
causes lung cancer. But we found that just
wasn't so either.
MS. DICK NEW ANGLE.
DICK (SYNC):
We found that most people are satisfied that
TiOK 0027337

DICK (SYNC):
statistics tell the whole story, but we found
out that statistics do a better job of
raising questions than answering them.
DICK, ANOTHER ANGLE.
DICK (SYNC):
And we found that even the statistics that
are being used...well, maybe they're not all
that accurate.
DICK GETS UP FROM BEHIND THE CONSOLE, WALKS OVER TO A MEDICAL MODEL
OF A SET OF LUNGS.
DICK (SYNC):
Does cigarette smoking cause lung cancer?
You may be expecting me to say 'no.' But the
answer is. I don't know...no one does.
Not the scientists, nor the physicians; not
the American Cancer Society nor the American
Lung Association. And the people who make
cigarettes, they don't know either.
TIOK 0027338

DICK, ANOTHER ANGLE.
DICK (SYNC):
Does that surprise you? Certainly, we've all
read that the cigarette industry denies that
smoking causes lung cancer.
CAMERA MOVES TO MONITORS WITH INDIVIDUAL FACES. A MAN'S FACE FILLS
THE SCREEN.
MAN (SYNC):
The cigarette companies? I've heard they say
that smoking definitely doesn't cause lung
cancer, or anything else for that matter.
A WOMAN APPEARS.
WOMAN (SYNC):
No. The cigarette companies believe their
products do not cause lung cancer. What do
you expect them to say?
DICK, CU.
TIOK 0027339

DICK (SYNC):
Well, let's hear what the cigarette companies
do say. Let's go to Washington and hear from
the chairman of The Tobacco Institute, the
organization which represents tobacco companies.
Horace Kornegay.
CAMERA MOVES TO MONITOR WITH KORNEGAY.
KORNEGAY (SYNC):
We don't know, nobody does. But, as an
industry, we've spent more than any non-governmental
agency trying to f ind out, more than the American
Cancer Society and Lung Association combined.
We have one position and that's all: there is a
clear need for answers and carefully conducted
medi=al research is the only way we're going to
get answers.
KORNEGAY, DIFFERENT ANGLE.
KORNEGAY (SYNC):
We do know that a lot of folks feel that all
T1OK 0027340

KORNEGAY (SYNC):
of the answers are known, that cigarette
smoking does cause cancer. We know that a
lot of people consider it a closed subject.
But that's all the more reason for us to fund
serious research. It's the right thing, the
constructive thing to do.
DICK, CU.
DICK (SYNC):
Cigarette smoking and lung cancer? Is it
a closed book? No. It is one of many
medical mysteries yet to be solved.
CU DICK.
Thanks for joining us. This is Dick Anderson.
CAMERA ZOOMS BACK TO LS WITH DICK AT CONSOLE.
CLOSING CREDITS SUPERED OVER LS SET IN DIM LIGHT.
T1OK 0027341
