220 



rV. CONCLISION 



It has been thirty years since the release of the first Surgeon General's Report 

 implicating cigarette smoking as a cause of cancer. Since then, there have been 

 more than 20 additional reports issued by the Office of the Surgeon General. The 

 messages and conclusions of those reports are clear -- cigarette smoking is the 

 single most preventable cause of death in our society. 



While the medical evidence about tobacco and its effects on human health has 

 grown, the manufacturing and marketing strategies of the tobacco industry have 

 developed and grown concurrently. At one time, cigarettes were products 

 marketed and produced merely for smoking pleasure only, products which 

 consisted primarily of a roll of tobacco wrapped in paper. As the concerns about 

 the health consequences of tobacco use grew over the years, so did the tobacco 

 industry's anempt to develop and market products which would allay the fean of 

 disease and death and addiction. Not only did the industry market and label its 

 products with low tar and low nicotine claims, but confidential documents only 

 recently made available to the public show an industry that had a well planned 

 out and calculated strategy designed to develop, produce, and market products 

 which were intended to both "affect structure and function of the body" and also 

 to "mitigate and prevent" the onset of disease. The industry was no longer m the 

 business of marketing and selling products sold for smoking pleasure only, but 

 was in the business of selling "drugs" as they have been defined by the Food. Drug 

 and Cosmetic Act. 



In producing and marketing "drugs" the tobacco industry should be held to the 

 same standards as other businesses whose products are marketed and sold with 

 intended "drug" related effects. 



