423 



assistanc* In ael«ctin9* th« Scientific Advisory Board (p. 3), 

 "propo««d" Dr. Littla for th« Scientific Director (p. 3), and 

 " handled liaison, aaendaa. orqanirational plans, businesa 

 affairs, reports, and mate rials for aeetinos of the TIRC fandl 

 t- ,^a Scientific Advisory Boa rd. ... in addition to developing 

 <}^frAt.ina procedures for the research proaraa' (p. 5) . 



The report provides a "case history" that describes how 

 the Tobacco Industry Research Conunittee would transform an 

 obscure scientific report favorable to the industry into 

 national headline news (pp. 7-9). According to the case 

 history, "advance checking" by TIRC revealed that Dr. Hueper 

 was scheduled to give an unpublicized report "concerning the 

 lack of a proven link between lung cancer and smoking" in July 

 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. TIRC reproduced the report and two pages 

 of highlights and established a "special liaison" in Sao Paulo 

 "to give word of Dr. Hueper's delivery as quickly as possible, 

 so as to enable distribution of the talk while it was still 

 newsworthy." As soon as the talk was given, "personal delivery 

 of the Hueper release was made to important newspapers and 

 services as well as distribution to science writers, editorial 

 writers and feature writers." In the end: 



"Although may of the writers covering the Sao Paulo 

 meeting failed to mention the Hueper talk in their 

 dispatches, it is significant that, as a result of the 

 distribution in the U.S.A.. sto ries cmestionina a link 

 between smoking and cancer w ere given wide attention, both 

 in headlines and stories . In some press accounts, the 

 Hueper story took precedence over the reports of Drs. 

 Hammond and Wynder, even though the latter were made 

 available to the press in advance of their delivery on a 

 hold-for-release basis." 



The report describes many other efforts of the Tobacco 

 Industry Research Comaittee to influence nedia, including 

 "special personal contacts" with Time . Newsweek . U.S. News and 

 World Report , and Business Week (p. 9); preparation of 

 editorials entitled "The Saae Old Culprit" and "Truth Makes a 

 Slow Crop" that were "widely used in ^hoae town' dailies and 

 weeklies throughout the country" (p. 10); and "assistance ... 

 provided to the New York Tiaes for a Suixiay Magazine piece ... 

 on "Why People Ssoke," which discussed soae of the now- 

 abandoned old charges against cigarettes" (p. 12) . 



In many instances, the Tobacco Industry Research Coaaittee 

 worked behind the scenes to influence the content of individual 

 articles. In one case, the intervention of TIRC resulted in 

 "seven revisions and five qualifying additions" to a story in 

 Cosmopolitan magazine that "was already in type" (p. 10). 



In other cases, it was quicker and more effective simply 

 to hire free-lance authors to write favorable articles for the 

 Tobacco Industry Research Committee: 



