LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: CIGARETTE ADS ONE MORE TACT IN A CYNICAL, SELFISH AND HARMFUL STRATEGY

Dear Editor:

The latest salvo in the tobacco industry's propaganda war -- full-page ads in major national newspapers -- is really part of its longstanding campaign to convince the public that smoking really isn't as dangerous as the entire world health and scientific community says it is.

This strategy was conceived to preserve the industry's profits and to fend off liability, rather than to engage in a constructive debate.

In recent ads, the tobacco industry implies that health organizations, such as the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society, really want to ban tobacco products.

That is wrong.

Our position is clearly outlined in our support of "The Fairness in Tobacco and Nicotine Regulation act," introduced by Rep. Mike Synar, D-Okla., and Rep. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. The legislation specifically outlines the FDA's authority to regulate the manufacture, sale, distribution, labeling, advertising, promotion and content of tobacco products, without banning them. The legislation would hold the tobacco industry to the same standards of truth and responsibility as are companies that make foods, drugs and cosmetics.

Documents collected by our health organizations over the past few years, which are now in the hands of congressional committees, show that the tobacco industry long ago developed a preservation strategy on three fronts -- "litigation, politics, and public opinion." A 1972 memo from a Tobacco Institute vice president to the institute's president, said the "brilliantly conceived and executed strategy helped us win important battles" in part by "creating doubt about the health charge without actually denying it."

Now they're even denying it. Tobacco industry executives and representatives continue to say under oath that they do not believe smoking is addictive and causes disease. Every major health and scientific organization says otherwise.

The most dangerous part of this message, crafted by the Masters of Deception, is that it's targeted to the next generation of smokers -- children. Most adult smokers already know from experience how difficult quitting smoking can be. And families of smokers who died from lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease caused by smoking know all too well the human tragedy of the smoking addiction. It's the 3,000 children who try cigarettes for the first time each day that this campaign is ultimately out to reach.

A straight forward approach to controlling the tobacco epidemic enjoys broad public support. A Gallup survey conducted for our health organizations in 1993 found that 68 percent of Americans -- both smokers and nonsmokers -- believe that the Food and Drug Administration should regulate tobacco products in a manner similar to the way drugs are regulated. The survey also found that a majority of Americans favor an increase in the federal tobacco tax and restrictions on cigarette advertising that appeals to children, that encourages people to smoke, or that makes smoking appear glamorous.

Merle Charney

Chairman, Missouri Coalition on Smoking and Health