* "Cigarettes are, as a matter of law, defective and unreasonably dangerous for human consumption. Cigarettes are defective because when used as intended, they cause cancer, emphysema, heart disease and other illnesses," Circuit Judge Eugene Bogen of Greenville wrote in a ruling last month. The ruling meant that the children of Anderson Smith, Jr., 63, who died in 1986, would not have to prove that cigarettes are dangerous or that Mr. Smith himself was not partly to blame for his death in order to sue the American Tobacco Company of Stamford, CT, makers of the Pall Malls Mr. Smith smoked for 40 years. The ruling was rendered moot when 11 of 12 jurors determined that Mr. Smith died of a blood clot induced by surgery, and not emphysema or lung cancer.

*The California Assembly passed a smoking control bill that reflects the tobacco industry's "preemption" strategy. The bill, AB996, would nullify more stringent anti-smoking ordinances in effect at the local level if they were implemented after April 1, 1993. The sponsor, Curtis Tucker Jr., D-Inglewood, claims the bill is "an honest attempt to affect statewide smoking policy in California."

The bill now goes to the California Senate.

Johan Klehs, D-San Leandro, claimed the law is riddled with loopholes. Opponents cite a nearly identical bill, also backed by the tobacco industry, that is pending in Georgia.

*A prisoner in Nevada won the right to sue the prison system for cruel and unusual punishment for putting him in the same cell as a 5-pack and day smoker, thus risking his future health. Though the court held that 8th Amendment claims could be made based on future health, "the prisoner must show that the risk of which he complains is not one that today's society chooses to tolerate" and "must also establish that it is contrary to current standards of decency for anyone to be so exposed against his will".

Justices Scalia and Thomas dissented, criticizing the application of the 8th Amendment to the "mere risk of injury", and to an occurrence that is not "punishment" in a constitutional sense.

Nevada has since instituted a policy of separating smoking and non-smoking inmates.

*A smoker in Washington is trying a new tack: suing Philip Morris for the $1500 it cost him to quit his addiction to Marlboro cigarettes. Al Deskiewicz, in arguing his ignorance of the effects of cigarettes, cited a documentary in which Philip Morris executives disparage the Surgeon General's health warnings on cigarette packs. An Oakland, CA psychiatrist, Stephen Raffle, testified for Philip Morris that smoking was just a habit, and not an addiction on the level of alcohol or other drugs.

Health:

*The New England Journal of Medicine found new direct evidence that smoking causes or aggravates asthma in children. Rather than depending on human estimations of exposure to smoke, the new study relied on the examination of telltale chemicals in urine. The study found children with heavy exposure to tobacco smoke had 70% more attacks than those with little or none. The study indicated that parents in previous studies gave accurate estimates of tobacco exposure, further validating those studies.

*A study in Milan published in the British Medical Journal found that low tar cigarettes do not significantly decrease the risk of heart attack for smokers. (Other studies have shown that low-tar brands could decrease the risk of cancer in smokers.)

*The AMA passed a resolution urging the end of tobacco advertising. A report for the delegates reads:

"The evidence is clear: tobacco companies continue to pursue aggressive, vile advertising campaigns, spending billions of dollars annually in an effort to convince more people to use their deadly products. What is even more egregious is that these advertising blitzes are often aimed at innocent children and others who are uninformed about the inherent dangers relating to tobacco use and, as a result, are particularly vulnerable to their appeal."

It compared the "despicable" depiction of cartoon characters, as opposed to the reality of a cancer ward.

"The tobacco industry supports death and ill health and through its abhorrent advertising campaign it continues to prey on the minds of our youth, the uninformed and the disadvantaged."

The Tobacco Business

*Philip Morris will continue with its low pricing policy on Marlboro cigarettes until August, to evaluate the response. (The Wall St. Journal reported response has been so brisk that PM had to hire over 2,000 temporary workers) Also, beginning July 1, RJR will offer a 2-for-1 promotion on Winston Selects.

Society:

*A Rand Corporation study, Project ALERT, found that the lessons learned in junior high school anti-tobacco programs are forgotten by high school. Programs for 7th & 8th graders are effective at the time in helping students resist pressure to smoke tobacco or marijuana, but clearly the programs need to continue into high school.

*The Seattle Times, the largest newspaper in the Northwest, announced it would no longer accept tobacco advertising. Said Publisher Frank Blethen, "The evidence that smoking is the nation's number one health problem is overwhelming. In good conscience, we can no longer provide a forum for promoting sales of these products. As the leading information provider in this region, The Times is extremely reluctant to deny access to legal commercial information. However, as a thoughtful newspaper, we must make ethical decisions about our content . . . we have concluded that tobacco advertising has almost no redeeming value."

Blethen said the policy will cost $120,000-150,000, out of a yearly ad revenue of about $200,000,000.

The Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah has never accepted tobacco advertising, and the Salima Journal in Salima, Kansas, stopped all tobacco advertising in 1984. Less than 20 newspapers in the country prohibit tobacco advertising.

Sporting News:

*Chaw-less All-Star Game?

June 8, 1993. Phillies pitcher Terry Mulholland today joined 2 congressmen and a number of health groups in urging players to agree to a chaw-free all-star game.

According to a study cited by the Centers for Disease Control, the use of snuff has increased about 50 percent the last 10 years, and 20% of high school boys now use snuff or chewing tobacco. Mulholland used snuff for 15 years, but Mulholland said he quit the habit two years ago, when he saw the face of a retired ball player who had undergone surgery he said was a result of chewing. "I've never been as scared as I was looking across the room at this guy," Mulholland said.

Reps. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., James Hansen, R-Utah, The American Cancer Society, the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery are sending letters to players, asking that they not chew tobacco if they are chosen for the July 13 All-Star game.

*.U.S. Women's Challenge, an all-female sailing team, is scheduled to compete in the Whitbread Round-the-World Race in Sept., a nine-month 33,000-mile race. The other 15 teams from various countries are all-male. However, the team has only $1.8 million, mostly from individual donations, of the $3 million needed to undertake the venture. Another US team, skippered by Dennis Conner, who has won the America's cup 3 times, is being sponsored by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Winston cigarettes.

International:

*A German court ruled it would not ban a mother's smoking in front of her children, claiming that, while harmful, smoking was an acceptable social activity. The suit was brought against the mother by her mom, the childrens' grandmother.

*The tobacco industry's targeting of Asian Pacific Islanders (APIs) is under attack by several organizations: the Asian Pacific Islander Tobacco Education Network (APITEN), which concentrates on the saturation of tobacco advertising in California API communities, and the Asian Pacific Association for the Control of Tobacco (APACT). APACT will hold the Third Asia-Pacific Conference on Tobacco and Health, which will call discuss the U.S. trade policy of pushing tobacco, and ways to defend Asian countries against American tobacco companies.

*Two doctors in England ignited a controversy by refusing to do non-emergency heart by-pass surgery on smokers, who do not fare as well as non-smokers after surgery.

*British cot deaths (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS), have been halved in Britain since a media campaign urged mothers to:

• 1. Lay their babies on the backs or sides (NOT their stomachs)
• 2. Avoid smoking
• 3. Avoid over-wrapping their babies.

END OF DOCUMENT