289 



- 45 



■It My b« too late to publish corrective advertising for promotions 

 that cetscd 30 years ago, but even In retrospect the credibility of 

 the publication is hamed. The knowledge and comnon sense about 

 cigarette smoking were there — but so were the mass media to 

 undermine knowledge and cultivate mass denial. One clear lesson is 

 that physicians are not itmnune to propaganda. But the point of this 

 article (and this entire issue) 1$ that the situation In regard to 

 promotion of smoking Is even more pernicious today (emphasis added). 

 Vhe old advertisements in the Journal may seem ridiculous In their 

 images and claims, and we can rationalize that wt no longer 

 acquiesce In the sale of cigarettes in a medical context. But do 

 we? ... we as leaders in society are doing precisely what the 

 c 1 ciare ti.e adve rtisers want us to do : not oecome angry, but rather 

 t o 5ec (/n.j t'lisTqned or comnlacent (emphasis added). Advertising for 

 a piwcoci is not solely designed to sell to potential or current 

 users, bu^ also to assure the cctrolacency or tolerance of non- 

 users." *■' 



D. HAZARDS OF "LOW TAR AND NICOTINE" CIGA RETTES A NO WHY HEALTH 

 CLAIMS IH ADVERTISEHgMTS KK MISLgADIW 



The message that low yield cigarettes are "safer" ^as been heard and 

 heeded by the public even though low tar and nicotine cigarettes are not 

 considered safer because of such factors as compensatory smoking 

 behavior, which accompanies the smoking of low yield brands, and 

 hazardous agents In smoke other than tar and nicotine, including carbon 

 monoxide. Various sources have recognized that advertisements for low 

 yield cigarettes art misleading and that a "safer" cigarette cannot be 

 manufacturad. 



National Academy of Sciences; 



"The logic that lower T/N yields equal less harmful smoking seems 

 simple and persuasive. But there are two way« in which this logic 

 may be misleading. First, the measurements of T/N are performed. In 

 the laboratories of the Federal Trade Coowlsslon (FTC) and others, 

 by analyzing batches of smoke drawn by a machine that simulates 

 smoking with a simple and unchanging program. Human smokers and 

 their cigarettes, however, are neither simple nor unchanging.... 

 Second, there Is the complexity of the product itself. Tobacco 

 smoke contains several thousand distinct compounds. While the 

 particulate condensate we call tar is clearly carcinogenic, and pure 



