Tobacco Documents Online

PSItiBs Asbury Park, New Jersey Jume 29, 196+ Ridiculous Order The Federal Trade Commission rule requtring warning labels on cigarettes ts another dramatic tn- dfcatlon of how fh: p,rwer-i,.ad Washington bureau- crats are eager to go In exercising their autocratic controls over the lives of Americans they tnstst on coddling. If the order stands. 1t could serve as a precedent for some equally ridiculous labeling. Cigaret:es, after all, aren't the only readily available commodities that can cause death 1t used tmproperly. Take automobiles for example. By documented count, 43,400 persons were killed and 1.8 mtllion tn- jured In traffic accidents last year. Are we to expect that If the PTC makes the cigarette order stick, It will require that all automobiles and trucks be la- beled as potential weapons of death and advertised accordingly? And how about whlskey and gin and even beer? They can kill In a tlaab on a highway or tn a brawl. But tbey also can exact the penalties of abuse through long and tedious lllnesses that have the same end result as lung cancer, whatever Its causes may be. It a constttuttonal amendment couldn't outlaw al- , coholfc drinks, neither will a label citing the poten- alal dlangers of misuse. Excessive use of sugar also can cause serious Illness and ultimately death. A single fres6 grapp or a glass of the purest milk from the most contented c•3w can be poison to someone with a susceptible al- lergy. Conceivably, lf It gets away with Its latest order, the FTC sooner or later may feel compelled to require labelling of these products. Anyone who hasn't heard or read the repeated warnings that excessive cigarette smoking can cause lung cancer and contribute to other IDs Isn't likely to be lmpressed by labels. It Is entirely proper, of course, to require that manufacturers resist the temptation to make false claims. But to Insist that they advertise they are of- fering a potential killer is about as rld:culous as a bureaucratic order can get. ~