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March 25, 1994 Page 15 



• Both the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and the American 



Tobacco Company referred to inhalation as part of the 



smoking process in their advertising in the 1930s (Tye, 



1986) . The text of a Lucky Strike ad from 1932 



(American Tobacco Co., 1932) read in part. 



Do you inhale? 



What's there to be afraid of? 



7 out of 10 inhale knowingly — the other 3 do so 



unknowingly. . . . 



Do you inhale? Of course you inhale! Every 



smoker breathes in some part of the smoke he or 



she draws out of a cigarette.' 



• Until such claims were banned by the FTC in 1955, 

 cigarette advertising often featured claims of reduced 

 throat irritation. Table 3 provides an example of this 

 phenomenon from each of the six major cigarette 

 manufacturers circa 1952. Throat irritation is only an 

 issue if the consumer inhales. If a puff of smoke is 

 taken in and then expelled from the mouth without 

 inhalation, there is no impact on the throat. 

 Therefore, claims of reduced irritation are the 

 equivalent of claims for ease of inhalation. 



• If inhalation were a misuse of the product, the 

 abundant evidence of harm from inhalation should have 

 led the companies to take firm steps to warn its 

 customers against inhcllation and to change cigarette 

 design to discourage the practice. Nothing of the sort 



' A copy of another ad from this series is included with 

 this statement . 



