Tobacco Documents Online

H T 00330 I Ch~oGgo, Illinois Patterson, Nev Jersey ~une ~6, 196~ June 26, 196~ Trade Commission Oversteps sam The Federal Trade Commission p~a~s to have sounded a high note of federal bureaucracy and ~rnnnv in its order that cigaret packaf~e ]81~els by Jan. 1, 1965 must bear ~e legend aret smokinc Js dangerous to health and may cause dea~ from cancer and other THE FEDERAL Trade Commission |fitted up s real burner% nest with its ruling that ci~arets mu~t car~ n warning that they "may ca.~ death from caner lind other dJ~e-',sc~." The multibillion-dol- |~r tobacco Industry will fight the mlMg tooth and n,,;I. And it should. The issuo ber~ is not whether cJgsrets ~e u h~Jrd to health, but whether the PTC b~s the power to single out cll~rets ~or this kMd of action, if i~ h~s, its power i~ too bm~d for cohort and 811 of u, ouy~t ~ worq 8bout it. By this time, surely no one is sbo,t to b dad into tbinki~ that claret smok- ~ n ~ood for the hulth. The amlgics Mi tung canto', emphysema, heart disease, j eJl ~ ~ hove been bandied ~t greet Ice, b, and while the studies do sot ~!! come out st the same pl~ce they 8enerally egret that cigarct smoking is Grandpa knew this two generations ago whm hc called cigarets "coffin rodin." IdJllions of youngsters have been peddled for uneuUn~ behind Ihe bast or Jura the ~ to smoke. Recent studies mainly con- fJl~, in fi'J~htening detail, the risks that go With the habit. .But we m'e ~tilt dealing with risk~, not 9dth cart, duty. Not everybody wh.o~ smokes ~ l~t vdll die of lung caner, en~ marc tiJN! everybod~ who rides in u car will die in a traffic mishap. ~,utomobiles ahtUt 45,000 people eveq ~ear---far morn ~ die of lung mncer.--~ ~hould tho FTC alex a "bnzaM" warning to ever~ mtomobilc? Obesity is firmly linked to premature death, so must we label ca~dy and dessert~ -- or potatoes-- as polential "ki)lers? The FTC. it seems to us, is up n dungcmus tndl M b~ the msj. ,esty of the feder~! government to bear on this problem. In it prepmed to "protect" the American l~ople from ~11 volunt~7 s~ks? If not, where can it draw the line? Recent disclomr, about cigmt ~mok- ins have eke~v ~m~ht druttc in tuba:co advertising. ~bllc opinion vc~ likely chatsKe the p~ttem ~ see whem, theis seU-inmut ~11y 1ks, This is 8~ it 8hould be. und J~ the 1Tau]t were to reduce tk~ nung~er of kabitual smokers to zero the tobacco mml~anies ~ould just have to bca~ But progress should be made through voluntar~ action and publ/c persuasion, not bureaucratic compulsion. The llndtkss pension o1" bureaucratic power c'm'd~s • ~mver risk to the whole society than all the foolish risks taken by individual cigsret ~mokcrs pat together. diseases." This is' l|ke telling cigaret manufac- turers to label their paek~ges with a ak~l and cross bones imprinted with a large "Poison" label. A!I th,a,t is ne.eded is ~e further warning: ' Don t buy these, they'll kill you," This is not a dissertat/on on the merits o! the c!alm that clga~ets are harmful, • contention which is st/ll wide. ly debated, But nothln~ could have been more clearly projected to the world then U,S. Surgeon General Luther L. Terry's pro- nouncement last year that cigarets are caacer.lnducer~. Eves7 new~paper Page 'I, every radio and televfslon program broadcast the warning. There was no attempt at concealment, although there was dispute as to the finding. Yet people go right on smoking. If the FTC can yet a~ay with such bureaucratic despotism, what is to pre. vent an .order to the auto industry that all cars must carry the legend: 'q~ok out, this machine is • kll!er." The cll~aret manufacturers are plan- ning an all-out attack on this kind of ~iovernmentul intrusion and they should nd support if only on the pri~clple o| ~airne~.~ and equity in business.