Tobacco Documents Online

9/.01 ~900G

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%Vha~ ll.'~ppens If 'rhi~ .Strntr.Ry. Succeeds ? I~ ~s Is allowed to stand unrcfutcd, then It Is only • n~a~er o{ time bcfor~ smoking Is restricted cw~rywhcrc, including the home~ and ~lH~at~l~ efforts ~11 be mad. ~ re~ric~ ~h~ ~uf~=~. ~r~r.~ potation and ~ales ~t t~bacco product~. For~ately~ the aIlega~on that smoking cau~c~ diseaee~i~ not true, and there Is no mescal e~dence in support of ~uch a theory, Unfortunately, the fact remains: that already 71% of non-smokers and 51~ of smokers believe this falsehood.. !."'; These percentages may be expected :o increase, since, it is strategy of the antl-srnoking forces to design propaganda ~vhich will reinforce these bclicfs, without actually stating that smokers cause disease in non-smokers. Ambiguous terms llke "noxious" and "po]lu|ion~" are certainly cf/ective Ln accon%p]$shing this. | How Can This Strategy Be Effect~vcl.Z Countered? }~o counter-strategy can succeed unless ~'e are aisle to refute the falsehood about non-smokers being s~bject to disease. 0 0

l{ere is a list of possible positions and Itrat¢~ie8 that have been considered. ~nconelus~vc. Eliminated because: Both smokers and non-smokers already hold convictions to tie contrary, and see the warning label as the tobacco manufacturer's ag'reement. Research indicates 56~ ot s~okers and 83~0 of non-smokers say" most s~okcrs v}~ll get a serious l]b~e~s. ~ any event~ there Is no prospect of reversing the public point of ~ew in time to prevent ~dcsprcad antl-smoking ]egivlation, • 2. The to%acco h~d~.~;trv is e~se~t~al to t1~c economy,. tax rcvenue~ etc. Rejected because: ~esearc~ clearly s~ows that t~o public is prepared to ~acrlficc economy if health Is at s~kc. Tobacco ~sfi~tc ~urvey among high ~ncome a~d rural popula~on of tobacco s~tcs ~ows 47~o bc]ievc smoking should bc banned in all public places, both before and afte~ ads ~trc~slng economic importance industry, ~ ,. O

3. History_~_nd=h!;r~t,~c of the. tobacco inc|~stryo Rejected because.: It is not relevant to the issue of restrictions • • l. S~nokln~ ~n n)~leration . Re~ected because: It addresses lib, elf to the health of the ~oker but not necessarily to the health of the non-smoker, ~ t~e case of liquor~ t~.ere is no ~de~prea~ ~ndard for • . ~odera~on or e~coss In e~o~ng. Hero, legal problems ar~ luvo~ed ~u any atten~p~ to suggest ~,~at • ~er~tc" con sumption. l~cJe~ted because: The l~u~,llc doe~ not concede the right to i ~, • mztnuf~tcturc something which ~n their opinion c~uses a serious ~ ~ ~ • ; ~ ~s~se among non-~sers. [

6. ~jorlty o£ poIL~,~a_tio!~.,~atisfled ~vith c~rrent co~ditio~s on smo~-.inR/non-svnok|nR and no further Rovern~ent rev, u_lat{~_n_ _i~ r equlr...o, d, Y~cjectcd: 68~0 o( non-smokers b~lievo that the g~)vernment should further restrict smoking ~nd only [/3 of smokers ~II be bothered if there are more rest~ic~ons, expect ~orc laws to be passed and 38~ of smokers believe they . be p~ssed to protect non-s~okor~ 7~ ~e tobacc9,1ndustrY has contriN~ted to and :. ~b]ect~e unbiased medical research, :: -. Rejected because: This does not address the ques~on : " addlHonal ~ws "agalnst ~mokers. ~ 8. ~e smoker Is a ~ood ~uy~ courteous, not messy, " "doesn't smoke ~herc he shouldn't. Re~ected~ Non-s~noker clearly,perceives that every smoker " ' i~ ~ot a good guy and that if his health is ~t s~ke, he cam~ot rely upon the smoker ~ot to smoke in his presence.

ImporL~nt but subsidiary~ There Is p~bllc acceptance that smokers h~ve rights but not to the extent that their smoking ~e~sIy a~ccts the hcalt~ of otl~cr~. ~us. it ~ust ~Ir~ be e~blished that smokin~ {s not ~rmful Lo non-smokers~ ~e~Ith. lO. Srnolcer courtes.~ • . L~portar~t but subsidiary~ I~ an i~dividu~l belle~e~ '.~ ]s at ~ke~-he ~II not depend upon the courtesy of smokers to ~reserve it. Courtesy iz a suitable explanagon , Is ~erely an annoya~ce to the non-smoker~ but It Is not s ~ui~ble ~ r~ponse if it Is believed that it causes disease In non-smoker~, Smoker/non-smoker .problem can be worked out on an |ndivldual basis without governn~en+. |nterference. Important but subsidiary~ The public clearly soe that if the smoker Is ~c~ally causing disease among non-smokers~ indi~dual arrangements will not cover all the contingencies. ~is posi~on Is only tenable xvhcn smo~.e ~s regarded as a mere annoyance.

• ~?a}Id becax~se: The evidence is that th.~ preponderance o[ doctors believe this, it can be egfecti;'e: ~.~ s~bstantlstlon 19 adequate. gy the p~ ~ces~ ~f ellm~na~o~,. ~l~ere ~p~ar~ to b~ only one c~ntrol ~'trategy wgich is ~kely to affect the outcome of the present anti- ' ShoOing pro~ganda. " "" .The mos~ ~erable aspect of t~s pro~ganda effort I~ that they are " ~sing ~h~ ~oft lie tec~que ~bout ~isesse among non-smokers, i '" .. ~ere Is~ as far ~s ~e ~o~v at this ~me~ not even a controversy ~n ~ the l~cue of non-~mokers contrac~.ng disease. H~ one ques~ons t]~at ~ • • other people's smoke can bc ~nnoying. Tl~erc is some mescal oplnien ~. t~at indi~duals ~ay l~ve transitory p~y~ic~l discomfort and some ~ ~ather va~e assumpNons on the part of some ~nedic~l a~thoritles that ~ people ~th cer~.in pre-exlsIing conditions could possibly be affected . by ambient smoke,

This ia a far stronger pot~ition than can be caLablishcd on the effects ef ~o~tlng upon ~oke~. The la~cr Is an unresolved controversy about ~s~cal inference, but the preponderance of the rncdlcal profession e~denGy ~t~'ibut~ c~g~alit~" to ~o~ng hy ~ the ca~e of non-~moker~, there I~ no controversy over ~U~tlcal inference, "" preponderance o~ ~he oplMon of ~edlcal .... ~e e~dcnce from our resea.rch Is that It would be Impotent to have as much ~rd e~dence as possible to demonstrate that medical au~orl~es ever~,whcrc and ~der all clrcumstande~ firmly believe ' " that no dlscasc can be tran£mltted to non-smokers. ~ - . At prese~, a m~terial ~ndlcap is the n~mber and avail~bilit7 of authorizes who can be speclflcally quoted ~thout compllcat~ng reser~ons. . ' " A subsidiary concern is the extent ~o wblch thcse authorizes can be quoted and idcn~ficd xdthout permission which may not, In all cases, be