Tobacco News July 23, 1994

HEALTH

ETS & Children (Rev.)
More Patch Data (Rev.)
Dentist Urges Smokers to Chew Instead
Smokers' Feet
Heart Disease Risks, by Country

FEDERAL

Health Bill Taxes
Smoking's Medical Bill: $50B or $2/Pack, Says CDC
Nicotine-reduction Plan Proposed

LOCAL

Update: The States vs. Tobacco
NY: Reservation Cig Sales Restricted

INTERNATIONAL

BRITAIN: Sour "Agreement" on Tobacco Ad Limits
KAZAKHSTAN: RJR Buys Factory
INDIA: Smoking Lazarus
JAPAN: Japan Tobacco Shares On Block
JAPAN: Nicorette Introduced
JAPAN: Killer of Smoker Sentenced
AUSTRALIA: Smoking Poll
BUSINESS
ABC Responds to Philip Morris Suit

SOCIETY

Food Lion Goes Non-smoking
Tobacco Protested at Chicago Black Expo

SPORTS

Baseball: ADA Calls for Smokeless Ban
Tobacco Ads & Sports

--Motor Racing:
--Americas Cup

PEOPLE

OBIT: R.J. Reynolds III, 60

HEALTH

ETS & CHILDREN (Rev.)

June 23, 1994. A series of 3 reports from an ongoing study of almost 9,000 children from smoking and nonsmoking homes has found long-lasting correlations between ETS and a specific kind of reduced lung function.

The study has been measuring airflow in children's lung's small airways each year for 12 years, and has found that harmful effects of second hand smoke last into adulthood.

One of the reports ascribed a 2-3% reduction of airflow in small airways--considered the most susceptible to tobacco smoke--to exposure to second hand smoke by children under 6. As long as twelve years later, the exposed children still exhibited reduced lung function.

A second report integrated ETS exposure in the home with ambient air pollution. Lucas Neas, coauthor of the report said lost lung function can never be regained.

A third report on the study group found that children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy had up to a 5% reduced airflow. This reduced lung function, researchers said, makes them more susceptible to lung disease as adults. The report's authors felt the damage was done during the first trimester of pregnancy, a time when women are often unaware they are pregnant.

At least one observer commenting on the studies said, however, "The jury's still out on whether or not it's prenatal or postnatal exposure that causes harm."

The study is part of the Harvard School of Public Health's Harvard Six Cities Study, an 20-year old ongoing investigation into air pollution and lung hazards. The recent results were reported in the June 1 and 15 American Journal of Epidemiology and in the June American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

MORE PATCH DATA (Rev.)

June 26, 1994. Researchers analyzing from 17 clinical trials of nicotine patches involving 5,000 smokers found that 22% of smokers using the patch had been able to quit for at least 6 months, as opposed to 9% of smokers using a placebo patch.

The meta-analysis by Dr. Michael C. Fiore, director of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at the University of Wisconsin was reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Fiore said results were the same whether smokers wore the patch for 6-8 weeks or for the 10-12 weeks patch manufacturers recommend. He also found patients did not need counseling to be successful. Doctors, Fiore pointed out, may be more likely to prescribe the patch if they do not feel obligated also to provide counseling.

DENTIST URGES SMOKERS TO CHEW INSTEAD

July 21, 1994. A dentist has given an extraordinary piece of advice to America's 46 million smokers: switch to smokeless tobacco instead--it's safer.

University of Alabama at Birmingham oral pathologist Dr. Brad Rodu made the recommendation in an article in the American Journal of Medical Sciences.

Although Rodu emphasized it's better to quit tobacco altogether, "the vast majority of smokers can't escape their nicotine addiction." Therefore, he said, "smokeless tobacco is a solution to the dilemma of total abstinence versus continuation of smoking. . . because it delivers similar nicotine levels but results in far fewer and less serious health consequences."

"The only major health concern about smokeless tobacco is oral cancer," Radu wrote. "However, the association is not strong." Smokers would be trading the increased risks for lung and heart disease associated with smoking for decreased risks for oral cancer--more oral cancer is associated with smoking than with chewing tobacco.

Radu and an associate, epidemiologist Dr. Philip Cole, also recently studied life expectancies of smokers, nonsmokers and smokeless tobacco users, and found that among 35 year old white males, smoker's average life expectancy is 73.1 years, whereas smokeless users' life expectancy is 80.9 years--less by only 15 days the life expectancy of nonsmokers.

"This 15-day reduction in life expectancy is in sharp contrast to the 7.8 years lost by smokers."

Radu points out that the Centers for Disease Control estimate 419,000 Americans a year die of smoking-related diseases.

"In fact, if all 46 million American smokers used smokeless tobacco instead, the projected number of annual deaths would be only 6,000."

If America's 46 million smokers were smokeless tobacco users, he says, we could expect 12,000 cases of oral cancer among them--less than half the 27,400 oral cancer cases now caused by smoking, and only 5.2% of all smoking-related cancers. In addition, oral cancers are far more detectable and treatable than lung cancer. Currently, oral cancer has a 75% survival rate when detected early, compared to lung cancer's 12% survival rate. Rodu suggests special alertness on the part of doctors and dentists of smokeless tobacco users..

Sweden, Rodu says, has the highest per capita smokeless tobacco use, and deaths from oral cancer average 2.8 per 100,000, whereas deaths from oral cancer in the US average 4.4 per 100,000.

Rodu advises the use of smokeless tobacco over the use of a nicotine patch to break cigarette addiction. He says the failure the patch to significantly satisfy smokers' needs is because the patch supplies only 1/3-2/3 the peak levels of nicotine provided by smoking, and patch wearers find regulating intake to match desired levels is difficult.

Rodu says the common perceptions of smokeless users as grossly spitting ballplayers is "terribly misleading." He says using a small amount of snuff is "undetectable, and that "the production of saliva is low or nonexistent."

"Despite a small risk of oral cancer, smokeless tobacco use simply cannot be compared to the devastating effects of cigarettes, the nation's leading contributor to preventable mortality due to cancer, cardiovascular disorders and respiratory disease."

SMOKERS' FEET

Sydney. July 13, 1994. The Australian AP reports that the Australian Podiatry Council is concerned that this winter the public is not as aware as it should be of the increased risk to smokers of circulatory disorders of the feet.

"Studies show that nicotine seriously affects blood supply to the skin of the feet by as much as 40 per cent, an effect which may last for up to 20 to 50 minutes," said the president of the APC, Andrew van Essen.

"This not only restricts the blood flow to the toes, it also decreases the toe's skin temperature."

The results can show up as chilblains--itchy or burning patches of skin on the feet or hands, a condition associated with exposure to moist cold. The condition can even, over the long term, lead to peripheral vascular disease, which constricts circulation and can lead to amputation.

Van Essen said young women are especially at risk for disorders resulting from constriction of the skin's blood vessels, and were increasingly showing up for treatment by podiatrists.

"We are urging more people to give up smoking, particularly women, to avoid the more serious long-term complications of chronic smoking to the feet," van Essen said.

Smokers not wishing to quit should be especially attentive to wearing socks and gloves in the winter.

HEART DISEASE RISKS, BY COUNTRY

Geneva. July 12, 1994. The World Health Organization has released the preliminary results of an ongoing 10-year study of heart disease cases from around the world.

The study released today examined 75,000 cases between 1985 and 1987, and found that:

--Finnish men from North Karelia are most at risk for heart attacks--915 per 100,000. That figure is 12 times the risk of men from Beijing--76 per 100,000.

--Scottish women from Glasgow are 9 times more at risk than women from Catalonia, Spain. Glaswegian women suffered heart attacks at a rate of 256 per 100,000--more than the rate for men in Toulouse, France.

--Worldwide, men have 4-5 times higher risk of heart attack than women.

--Researchers were surprised by the high mortality rate of heart attack--50% of heart attack victims died within 28 days.

--Another surprise was the wide variety of heart attack rates around the world.

But the very object of the massive "MONICA" project is to compare trends in death rates, risk factors and medical care in various regions and cultures in order to account for those differences more accurately.

Dr. Ingrid Martin, one of the study's coordinators, said southern European regions had diets rich in olive oil, fish, fruit and wine--dietary elements considered good for the heart. In addition, while Catalan women smoked very little, Glaswegian women had close to the highest rates of smoking in Europe.

Other high-risk areas included Northern Ireland, Australia, Canada and Sweden.

Women in Stamford, Connecticut came in 7th place, with 139 heart attacks per 100,000, while Stamford's men came in 13th place with 508 per 100,000.

FEDERAL

HEALTH BILL TAXES

Pat Moynihan's (D-NY) Senate Finance Committee would raise cigarette taxes by $1 in 1995 version of the bill

Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) Labor and Human Resources Committee would raise cigarette taxes by $1.50 a pack.

The House

The Ways and Means Committee bill would raise cigarette taxes by 45 cents a pack over a 5 year period.

The Energy and Commerce bill would raise cigarette taxes by $1.74 cents a pack.

SMOKING'S MEDICAL BILL: $50B, OR $2/PACK, SAYS CDC

Atlanta, GA July 7, 1994. US Medical costs for smoking-related illnesses reached $50 billion, or $2.06 per pack for the 24 billion cigarettes sold in 1993, a Centers for Disease Control report estimates.

Taxpayers, the report said, paid 43%, or $21.6 billion of those costs in Federal and State payments--89 cents a pack.

"The costs of smoking are huge and this report indicates the massive economic burden from an industry that has not, as yet, been asked to pay for those expenditures," said Thomas E. Novotny, assistant dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of the study.

The report, the largest and most detailed of its kind, estimated smoking's costs at twice the amount of previous reports.

The study was based on data from the recently released National Medical Expenditures Survey of 1987-'88. That study tracked medical expenses for 35,000 people for 16 months, and backed up survey information with actual medical bills. After the data was analyzed it was adjusted for inflation to 1993 dollars. The CDC said medical costs for smoking-related illnesses had more than doubled since 1988, due to the increase of an aging population, many of whom are or were smokers.

The CDC/University of California at Berkeley/University of California at San Francisco analysis of the Survey divided survey respondents into 4 groups:

--nonsmokers
--those who had smoked less than 15 years
--those who had smoked more than 15 years
--those currently smoking

They then addressed the costs associated with 5 "smoking-related medical conditions"--lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, arteriosclerosis and stroke. The researchers then adjusted the data for mitigating factors such as economic status, educational level, access to health care, race, insurance coverage, obesity and even risk-taking tendencies.

From this data they determined what proportion of expenses could be attributed to smoking alone.

"This is the rock-bottom estimate of the cost of smoking," said Novotny.

The study didn't address Indirect smoking costs, such as::

--health care for burns from cigarette mishaps
--special health care needs of some babies of smoking mothers
--health care due to second hand smoke exposure
--economic losses associated with sick days, lost productivity and premature death.

The direct costs addressed in the report "are just the tip of the iceberg," Dr. Novotny said.

The CDC related the report's conclusions to current congressional battles over health care reform and cigarette taxes.

"This study helps us understand what that economic burden of smoking is. If a tax can be used to recover some of that cost, this kind of study can be useful in determining the level of that tax," Novotny said.

Thomas Lauria of the Tobacco Institute said the report found far higher costs than previous reports, and claimed smokers already pay their own way--and more--through present cigarette taxes--an average of 56 cents a pack. He asked, "What about someone who is overweight or who drinks or engages in high-risk sports?"

THE DATA:

--Total costs of medical care due to smoking: $50 billion, or 7% of all medical expenses.
--Total payments by Federal and state governments for smoking-related illnesses: $21.7 billion, or 43.3%; governments pay 60% of smoking's costs for those over 65.
--Hospitalization: $26.9 billion, or 54% of the total spent on smoking related illnesses
--Doctors' bills: $15.5 billion.
--Nursing home expenses: $4.9 billion.
--Prescription drugs: $1.8 billion
--Medicare/Medicaid fees for home health care: $800 million

NICOTINE-REDUCTION PLAN PROPOSED

July 14, 1994. Researchers have introduced a plan to reduce the average amount of nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels over a 10-15 year period, reports John Schwartz of the Washington Post.

The plan was published in the July 14 New England Journal of Medicine, and calls for a reduction of nicotine dosage from today's average of 1 mg nicotine per cigarette to an eventual level of 0.17 milligrams nicotine per cigarette. This level is considered non-addictive by the authors, long-time nicotine researchers Neal L. Benowitz of the University of California at San Francisco and Jack E. Henningfield of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

This level would keep the young from becoming hooked when experimenting with cigarettes, according to the authors.

"Kids don't start smoking because they want to become addicted. They start smoking for social reasons," said Benowitz. "They don't believe they will get addicted, but most do. Addiction is what sucks young people into becoming adult smokers."

"When they came of age and came of sense, they could make their choice based on taste, and not based on addiction," Henningfield said.

Measuring the cotinine levels of 5-cigarette-per-day smokers--who do not seem to be addicted--Benowitz estimated that a smoker needs at least 5 mg of nicotine a day for addiction to take hold. Though cigarettes contain a total of 9-10 mg, a smoker only takes in about 1 mg of nicotine per cigarette.

Benowitz suggested a 10% per year reduction of nicotine levels as "reasonable" for smokers to adjust to. The long-term goal would be a .4 to .5 mg cigarette, delivering a dosage of 0.17 mg per cigarette. It would require heavy puffing on 30 cigarettes a day for addiction to become a factor.

Benowitz and Henningway also proposed doing away with the "smoking machine" method of measuring nicotine content as unreflective of real world conditions. They proposed a method whereby nicotine content would be determined by the maximum amount a smoker could be expected to draw from a cigarette.

The authors concluded their article: "Whether or not the nation is weaned from nicotine is a decision that would be influenced by broad social, economic and other concerns. But the possibility is supportable on scientific grounds."

Schwartz writes that an FDA panel will hold a 3-day hearing on nicotine starting August 1, and that since Benowitz and Henningfield's studies have been used heavily by the FDA, their proposal "could prove influential."

"Obviously they have done very important work in this field, and this is the kind of information that the advisory committee will be working with in August," said an FDA spokesperson.

Walker Merryman of the Tobacco Institute said any attempt on the part of the FDA to manipulate nicotine levels in cigarettes would be akin to making FDA chief David Kessler chef in a restaurant: the resulting product would probably have little taste appeal. Merryman warned such a move could open "the prospect of massive black market operations."

LOCAL

UPDATE: THE STATES VS. TOBACCO

July 12, 1994.

MISSISSIPPI--In Mississippi's lawsuit against tobacco manufacturers for reimbursement of state medical costs of smoking, tobacco industry lawyers pulled the case out of state court and into federal court in order to first address about 10 "substantial questions of federal law" that they said had to be settled before the state case could go on.

MASSACHUSETTS--Gov. William Weld has signed a measure which authorizes the Mass. attorney general to sue tobacco companies for Medicaid losses due to smoking-related diseases. Unlike the Florida law, which is facing an industry-mounted constitutional challenge, Weld's measure doesn't specifically deprive the industry of its traditional defenses.

VIRGINIA--The Commonwealth Foundation of Virginia issued a report claiming that suits like Mississippi's and Florida's are doomed to be money-wasters, earning the states only 15 cents for every dollar recovered--but earning lawyers several times that.

The report claims the real winners in such suits would be contingency-fee-paid lawyers and the federal government--which would be reimbursed its health care monies. Litigation fees would also be exceptionally heavy, considering the legal firepower tobacco companies could be expected to use fighting such suits.

13 states receive over 70% of their Medicaid monies from the federal government. These states could actually be losing money if they won such a suit. Those 13 states are Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.

The analysis points out that government has traditionally recouped monies it felt were attributable to specific segments of society by taxation--as in the case of highway tolls--a process which involves "less overhead."

Claiming the Florida and Mississippi suits are motivated by greed and politicians' desires to "get" the tobacco industry, a Foundation spokesperson said, "This is one of those new public policy ideas that sounds good on the surface, but when you get just an inch below, it begins to fall apart.".

The Commonwealth Foundation is a Virginia-based think tank attentive to issues affecting Virginians. A spokesperson said while the Foundation receives no money from the tobacco industry, tobacco is Virginia's #2 employer.

CIG SALES ON RESERVATIONS RESTRICTED

Washington. June 14, 1994. Cigarette stores on Indian reservations received a setback in the US Supreme Court today when the court ruled to allow wholesalers to limit their cigarette supplies to stores on Indian reservations.

"The states have a valid interest in ensuring compliance with lawful taxes that might easily be evaded through purchases of tax-exempt cigarettes on reservations," wrote Justice John Paul Stevens for the court. The decision found that New York requirements limiting supplies to that which could reasonably supply the reservation's inhabitants "do not unduly interfere with Indian trading."

The case may have an impact in reservations across the country.

Connecticut has been involved recently in a mini-war with Moonface Bear, a cigarette seller of the Paugussett Indian reservation in Colchester, CT. The battle has involved a months-long armed standoff, around-the-clock video surveillance and threats to arrest non-Indians buying untaxed cigarettes.

INTERNATIONAL

BRITAIN: SOUR "AGREEMENT" ON TOBACCO AD LIMITS

London. July 6, 1994. British tobacco companies have "reluctantly" agreed to adhere to voluntary ad-restriction guidelines, but are bitterly protesting them as an " "unwarranted and unwelcome intrusion."

"We have reluctantly agreed to the new provisions, but we are bitterly disappointed the government has further compromised our fundamental freedom to communicate with our adult customers," said the chief executive of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association.

The tobacco companies agreed to the guidelines apparently to stave off a move in Parliament to ban all but point-of-sale tobacco advertising.

The measures call for an end to storefront advertising by 1996, expanded health warnings, a ban on advertising within 200 yards of schools, and an end to advertising aimed at youth.

KAZAKHSTAN: RJR BUYS FACTORY

Winston-Salem, NC. July 6, 1994. RJ Reynolds Tobacco International announced that it has bought a controlling stake in a giant food manufacturing plant in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, and now owns 100% of the RJR Tobacco Company AO, which is located at the site.

RJR expects to invest $100 million in the venture, and to produce 6-10 billion cigarettes a year.

Philip Morris also has a $300 million project in process in the former Soviet Central Asian Republic.

SMOKING LAZARUS

New York, NY July 16, 1994. Simon Loekle of the radio program "As I Please" cited a case "from a _foreign_ newspaper," of a man in India who had died from a poisonous insect bite.

At the funeral, however, the man revived and "asked for a smoke," according to Loekle.

He was whisked to a hospital, where he died for a final time 2 hours later.

JAPAN: JAPAN TOBACCO SHARES ON BLOCK

Tokyo. July 7, 1994. Japan Tobacco has set a schedule to sell off 1/3 of its shares, the Finance Ministry announced today.

666,666 of JT's 2 million shares are to be sold by October.Prices will be set by an auction in August.

The auction will release 230,000 shares. The price they fetch will fix the price for the remaining shares to be sold in October. At the auction, the minimum purchase will be 40 shares, and there will be no restriction on foreign purchases.

. A previous attempt to sell shares of JT was halted last year due to the weakness of the Tokyo stock market. Officials left open the possibility another downturn could halt this sale also.

Investor interest seems weak, partly in response to poor returns on previous privatization offerings by Japan. Potential investors are also concerned about the ability of former monopoly Japan Tobacco to meet increased competition, and worry about the future of tobacco in general.

JAPAN: NICORETTE INTRODUCED

Kansas City, MO. July 12, 1994. Marion Merrell Dow Inc. announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare has approved its nicotine replacement gum for use as a prescription medication for patients with smoking-related disorders.

Marion Merrell Dow plans to market Nicorette as part of a 3-month "Nicorette Smoking Cessation Program" involving support materials, physician counseling and a motivation center.

JAPAN: KILLER OF SMOKER SENTENCED

Tokyo, July 13, 1994. Reuter reports that the man who killed a smoker in the nonsmoking section of a railway platform has received a suspended sentence of 3 years.

More that 200 anti-smoking activists filed a petition calling for leniency, and in a written statement, Kuwahara said other such incidents could happen if nonsmokers' rights were not respected.

"I advised Mr. Sugiura not to smoke on the nonsmoking platform. I kicked him because he refused," Kuwahara had told police at the time.

Kuwahara had apparently elbowed the 57-year old house painter, and then kicked him in the face. The 29 year old businessman then boarded the train--unaware his victim had hit his head on the platform so hard that he died shortly after.

The judge found Kuwahara had only kicked the victim once, and had not meant to kill him.

AUSTRALIA: SMOKING POLL

Melbourne. July 9, 1994. A Saulwick Age poll of 1,027 Australians nationwide has determined that--

-21% of Australians smoke
-29% of Australians 18-24 smoke
-78% accept that smoking causes lung cancer
-68% accept that smoking causes heart disease
-75% think smoking should not be allowed in restaurants
-22% think smoking should be allowed in restaurants
-62% say it is OK for tobacco companies to sponsor sporting events and groups.
-34% were against such sponsorship

BUSINESS

ABC RESPONDS TO PHILIP MORRIS DAY ONE SUIT

Richmond, VA. June 11, 1994. Television network ABC filed a legal response to Philip Morris' $10 billion lawsuit today, claiming that its reporting on "important and controversial public issues" was protected under the first amendment.

ABC said the filing of the lawsuit by Philip Morris "without providing any relevant factual allegations to sustain their extreme claims, would impermissibly dampen news reporting on important public health and safety issues."

ABC said that Philip Morris would have to prove "actual malice"--i.e., that the network's reporting was purposefully false, or was made with reckless disregard for the truth.

The lawsuit stems from a segment on ABC's "Day One" news magazine program that addressed tobacco companies' manipulation of nicotine levels in cigarettes.

The segment focused primarily on the R.J. Reynolds company, though Philip Morris was mentioned peripherally. Reynolds has not brought suit.

SOCIETY

JAZZ CLUBS LOSING SMOKY HAZE

July 5, 1994. UPI's Ken Franckling wrote an article on a movement by jazz club owners to free jazz from its smoky haze.

Three major jazz clubs have gone no-smoking, with few complaints, according to the club owners. "Most people are delighted," said the Regattabar's Fenton Hollander.

The smokefree clubs are:

--the Regattabar, Cambridge, MA
--Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase, Chicago, IL
--Kimball's East, Oakland, CA

Hollander said the club previously had held several nonsmoking performances at the request of the performing artists--Betty Carter, Geri Allen and Wallace Roney--and that requests for seats in the smoking section had been dropping steadily.

FOOD LION GOES NON-SMOKING

July 13, 1994. Food Lion is set to go smokefree, according to a Knight-Ridder article.

Knight-Ridder quotes a Food Lion executive's memo which reads, "Effective September 1, ... it shall be the policy of Food Lion to prohibit employee smoking at all locations, including stores, distribution centers and the office."

Food Lion runs a large chain of grocery stores, and is based in North Carolina The policy has sparked protests from the tobacco industry.

TOBACCO PROTESTED AT CHICAGO BLACK EXPO

Chicago, IL. 7/11/94 The Chicago Tribune's Terry Wilson covered protests over tobacco and alcohol companies' booths at the Chicago Black Expo.

"The tobacco and alcohol industries will utilize entities such as the Black Expo to introduce tobacco and alcohol to our youth. It's time for us to make sure that our children are not the replacement smokers and drinkers for those who have died or quit," said a co-founder of the Citywide Coalition Against Tobacco and Alcohol Billboards.

The chairman of the Black Expo, Rev. Bernard Taylor, told Wilson there were about 5 tobacco and alcohol vendors among the 600 at the Expo.

"They're protesting the wrong thing because they're misguided," he said. "Black organizations in this town don't support each other. We're so busy trying to pull each other down. It's unnecessary and unproductive."

SPORTS

ADA CALLS FOR SMOKELESS BAN

Chicago, IL. July 11, 1994 The American Dental Association has called for a ban on the chewing of tobacco by players during Major League Baseball games.

Citing studies showing smokeless links to "oral, pharyngeal and esophageal cancer, oral leukoplakia, and periodontal disease," John Greene of the University of California School of Dentistry said that "Players are highly visible role models."

The ADA cited Greene's recent study of 133 major league baseball players which showed that intervention programs involving oral examinations motivated a significant number of players to quit smokeless use.

"The idea that spit tobacco is harmful was probably not new to these athletes," Greene said. "The message was hammered home, however, once the players heard that they, personally, had oral lesions, severe periodontal disease and other symptoms associated with spit tobacco use beginning in their own mouths."

The study was published in the Journal of the ADA.

TOBACCO ADS & SPORTS

London. July 6, 1994 Influential Members of Parliament have released a report on Sports Sponsorship and Television Coverage, part of which called for an end to mainstream broadcast and satellite TV coverage of tobacco-sponsored sporting events.

The report by the National Heritage Committee said, "The association of tobacco products with events which are glamorous and attractive to young people is wrong."

The report recommended that "No further sporting events in the United Kingdom sponsored by tobacco companies should be broadcast by any terrestrial channel once existing contracts have expired."

Tobacco companies in Britain are most heavily involved in promotions in golf, cricket, snooker and rugby.

The director of Britain's Action on Smoking and Health said, "The BBC gives hundreds of hours of free advertising to tobacco companies every year and has failed to take the matter seriously despite sustained criticism."

The BBC responded by saying some of the sports/sponsor relationships go back 25 years, and that it would be up to Parliament to change the present coverage.

A BBC statement said the BBC is "actively encouraging" alternate sponsorship for those sports, and will not cover new tobacco-sponsored sporting events.

A spokesperson for Britain's Tobacco Manufacturers' Association said, "There is no convincing worldwide evidence to show that a ban on televised tobacco sponsorships would make any difference to UK smoking levels."

MOTOR RACING

London. July 15, 1994. Meanwhile, famous racer Stirling Moss, while backing the development of a British anti-smoking racing team, made clear that he is in favor of tobacco sponsorship of sporting events.

"I think the drivers today are paid too much and young people ought to realize just how dangerous smoking is," Moss had said when announcing the team.

However, Moss seemed to reverse himself a week later, when he attempted to clarify his position.

"While I am very anti smoking myself," he told the PA, "and firmly believe that young people should be discouraged from taking up the habit, I do not believe that a teenager will be seduced to start smoking because his or her favorite team is sponsored by a tobacco company.

"I can, however, accept that they might be tempted to switch brands in support of their favorite team.

"I have never advocated banning cigarette sponsorship, in fact if anything, I am all in favor of using even more of their money to benefit sport and the humanities. Anything where we can take tobacco money and use it for the benefit of sport, whatever sport, is good.

"I don't think we will ever stamp out smoking, so wouldn't it be nice to see tobacco money funding cancer and heart research, and some of it going into great heart hospitals like Papworth?"

The new race team, sponsored by the Cancer Research Campaign and Prowess Racing, is slated to enter the British Formula 3 Motor Racing Championships.

The car will feature a blue and yellow "Stop before you Start" message.

"Our main target is like the tobacco industry, children and young people, and we want to employ the same medium, motor racing, to influence them," said a representative of CRC.

Melbourne. July 10, 1994. The Australian Medical Association is stepping up its plan to abolish tobacco advertising in the Australian formula one Grand Prix, according to the Australian AP. The AMA is distributing a new poster to doctors in Victoria state, where the Grand Prix will be held from 1996-2005, and has vowed to make its position known to federal health minister Carmen Lawrence.

The AMA cited a review by Victoria's Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer which "suggested a strong relationship" between sporting event tobacco sponsorship and 12-14 year olds taking up smoking.

AMERICAS CUP

Meanwhile, America's Cup '95 has threatened to disqualify an Australian yacht for its tobacco sponsorship.

One Australia, the group with a $7.3 million Philip Morris sponsorship deal, replied that the move was an attempt to weaken One Australia's challenge, and that the name "Philip Morris" or its logo also represents foods.

"It's not new. Attack the funding base and neutralize the opposition," said a One Australia representative.

"We are not advertising a tobacco product, we are advertising the corporate name of a multi-national company which produces a wide range of products," he said.

The One Australia team is lead by John Bertrand, who won the America's Cup in 1983, breaking a 132-year reign by the New York Yacht Club. The San Diego Yacht Club has held it since 1987.

Also at issue in the race next year is whether the two Australian syndicates mounting a challenge are really one, a determination which would reduce the number of boats the Australians could build for the race to one.

PEOPLE

OBIT: RJ REYNOLDS, 60

July 12, 1994. Richard Joshua Reynolds III, namesake and grandson of the founder of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, died of emphysema and congestive heart failure on June 28 in Pinehurst, NC.

Reynolds was a philanthropist who founded Full Sky Publishing and the New Mexico-based Sufi Institute. He produced the film "Siddhartha", based on the Herman Hesse novel.

He had been a heavy smoker, but had quit in 1986.

His death was announced July 12 at a memorial service in Los Angeles, where his brother, anti-smoking activist Patrick Reynolds, blasted the tobacco industry and its influence in the U.S government.

Reynolds said he had not announced the death previously because he did not want publicity at the services, and because his family objected to his attributing the death to smoking.

However, he said, "There is no doubt in my mind that my brother died from smoking..

"I spoke to Dr. Roy Duke, his attending physician at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida., this morning and he confirmed that the emphysema was a direct result of years of smoking."

Patrick Reynolds founded the Los Angeles-based Citizens for a Smokefree America, and favors a ban on cigarette advertising and a minimum age of 21 for tobacco purchases.

Reynolds blasted the government and the "system of special interests" which prevents it from "properly regulating" tobacco like narcotics.

He said legislators are "bribing each other in Washington"--i.e., trading tobacco protection for health care reform votes.

But, he said, "the story going around the world that R.J. Reynolds died from smoking will have a great impact."

The Reynolds family has been decimated by tobacco-related diseases.

--The first R.J. Reynolds chewed tobacco and died of pancreatic cancer.
--His son R.J. Reynolds II--Patrick Reynolds' father--smoked heavily and died of emphysema in 1964 at the age of 58.
--Patrick Reynolds' mother smoked and had emphysema and heart disease,
--His two aunts, heavy smokers, died of emphysema and cancer
--Patrick Reynolds has said his two older brothers smoke and have emphysema, and that he himself smoked for a total of about 10 years ("always the family product"), and quit in 1984. He now has small-airways lung disease.

END OF DOCUMENT