Tobacco Documents Online

V~ A ~ E-4 1 IVE7 10 ,tJ JaO . 3 I, P "7 8 Tougher A-I AntSg i- mokin- Driv By Cristine Russell Nashingtoo Star Staff Wrlt•r After a year-long study of smoking and public policy, a prestigious panel today recommended to the American Cancer Society that national volun- tary health organizations as well as government agencies should act more vigorously to discourage ciga- rette consumption. The 22-member National Commis- sion on Smoking and Health, which included three Nobel Prize winnerp as well as medical, public health, business and 'cornmunity leaders, ' concluded in its sharply worded 1Sa page report that the "cigarette indus- t'ry in the United States is essentially unregulated" and "unaccountable to any agency of government for the content of its products or the health consequences of their use." The' panel found- that '.`despite its own findings and warning9 about the hazards of cigarette smoking, the re- sponse to this probtem by the federal government on both congressional and executive levels has been mini- mal and symbolic." It described the Panel Criticizes Public,- Cancer 5ociety Efforts - failure to regulate the cigarette industry as a "national disgrace." THE COMMISSION also singled out the cancer society, saying that the group "has not used its potential resources to the fullest, particularly in the area of public policy." This was attributed In part to tax law re- strictions which until recently dis- couraged legislative activity. those exported under the Food for Peace program. • Direct the Food and Drug Adminis- tration to regulate additives in ciga- rettes and hold the industry account- able for the safety of the product. • Pay for an apti-5moking media advertising campaign through the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. • Replace the federal excise tax-with an increased, graduated tax based on tar and nicotine content. • Restrict, through the FederaA Trade Commission, advertising ciga- The panel's recommendations in- cluded a laundry list of ideas for regulation and education by both the public and private sectors. In the panel's }udgment the federal government should, for example:. • Establish a Cabinet-level commit- tee on smoking health. • Phase out, over a10-year period, . the tobacco price support system, • Eliminate tobacco products trom rettes which exceed a specific tar- nicotine level. • Support a policy, through the De- partment of Labor, that workplaces should be smoke-free: • Discontinee the sale 'of tax-free cigarettes at military establish- ments. STATE AND LOCAIL governments are also encouraged to limit smoking _ in most public places; schools to re- strict smoking and develop compre- .122t~3 Spt~jg -.2©lq . 00 TITX 0011824

S A/~ ~~~ ~~ should recognize the rights of informed adults to ~ Y~~../ smoke if they choose. To suggest otherwise would ' be to imply a prohlbition, which is neither enforce- Continued From A-1 able nor desirable in a democratic society." On the other hand, "the right of non-smokers to hensive health education programs; health profes- breathe air uncontaminated by tobacco smoke and sionals to set examples by not smoking; and to be free of the hazard to their health . . . created insurance companies to reduce rates for non- by breathing smoke of others should be given smokers. equal consideration." The cancer society - which set up the panel but In addition to LeMaistre, commission members allowed it to proceed independently - is urged to Dr. Scott Simonds and Baldwin Maull, former launch a much-more active legislative and lobby- chairman of the Marine Midland Bank in New ing effort in addition to the society's traditional York, were scheduled to make presentations be- educational role. fore the ACS board today. Other - members in- As part of a recommended "major expansion," cluded Nobel prize winners Drs. David Baltimore the smoking panel suggested that'the ACS "estab- and Salvador E. Luria, both of Massachusetts lish a full-time legislative capacity at the national Institute of Technology, as well as Dr. Robert W. level" which could initiate legislation, organize Holley of the Salk Institute. support, monitor enforcement, and testify before government bodies on cigarette policy matters. This would mean increasing "substantiallz" the financial resources the society has invested in its- anti•smoking effort. According to Victor Weingar- ten, executive director of the commission, only $200,000 is currently allocated to the current anti- smoking effort, Target 5, of the ACS total annual income of more than $100 million. THE COMMISSION'S FINAL report to the can- cer society was already in preparation prior to the annour}cement earlier this month of HEW's new federal anti-smoking campaign - an effort which has been criticized by the tobacco industry as an intrusion on individual liberties and by public in-. terest groups as not going far enough. • Weingarten said that he believed that the com- mission in general would "applaud the HEW ef- forts, as far as they have gone. But we, believe that - there is much more that has to be done." Commission member Dr. Charles LeMaistre, ~° chancellor of the University of Texas System and't formerly a member of the Surgeon General's Advi- sory Committee on Smoking and Health in 1964, said in an interview that HEW's announced cam- paign was "an attempt to approach the problem in ways they deemed practical." While the commission's job was "proposing," it is now the rtsponsibility of others to "dispose," he said. "I hope that over a period of years there mightr be progressive consideration, of those recommen- 1 PP' dations requiring more time to implement." THE COMMISSION report, which is to be-con- sidered by the ACS board of directors this week, was based upon testiifiony from more than 300 individuals who testified in eight regional forums across the country recently. , Although the Tobacco Institute, the trade organ- ization which has been critical of HEW's campaign and is likely to be even more so of the far•reachfng ' recommendations of the commission, w,as invited ~±~7 to testify, it apparently declined the invitation. The commission report notes that while many witnesses did advocate prohibitions of various sorts on smoking, the panel concluded that "we TITX 0011825