Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 7 
DR. HUGHES: If some surveys or several surveys showed that most 
consumers inferred a claim of health benefits from these cigarettes, would 
that be important information for the FTC to know when considering 
whether to force the tobacco companies to put in health information? 
MR. PEELER: Consumer survey information is absolutely vital to everything 
the FTC does in the regulation of advertising and labeling. Therefore, the 
answer to the first question is yes. The next question is this point that we 
raised earlier: whether there would be the ability to compel disclosure of 
tar and nicotine information absent a health claim. You do get back to the 
tension between having no information out there at all and having just the 
accurate tar and nicotine. 
DR. HUGHES: I think you are misunderstanding, because I am not talking 
about whether they report the numbers or not. Suppose there was a proposal 
that the FTC would require all cigarette advertisements that state anything 
about tar to have a statement that reads something like, "Switching to a low- 
tar cigarette is a very small health improvement compared to stopping 
smoking." 
MR. PEELER: There is a legal analysis under the Commission's unfairness 
authority that could be used to require disclosure of that information, 
assuming the correct factual predicate could be established. 
DR. HATSUKAMI: Regarding health benefits, it seems that based on 
Dr. Cohen's presentation there are significant numbers of people who 
believe that there are benefits to switching to a lower tar and nicotine 
cigarette, and yet some of the data do not show this relationship between 
tar yield and health benefits, with the exception possibly of lung cancer. 
Therefore, I agree with Dr. Hughes in requiring some kind of label on the 
package explaining that switching to a low-tar and -nicotine cigarette 
may or may not provide health benefits, thereby hopefully correcting 
an apparent misconception. 
DR. FREEMAN: Dr. Benowitz? 
DR. BENOWITZ: I would just like to emphasize that such language has to 
be stated very carefully; I believe for an individual there is very little benefit 
to switching. For the society of all smokers there may be benefit, and I 
would not want to lose that benefit. We have to walk that line of warning 
individuals that this is not going to help you very much, but still encourage 
the whole society of smokers to reduce their tar and nicotine intake. We 
need to find language that will serve both purposes. 
DR. FREEMAN: Dr. Kozlowski? 
DR. KOZLOWSKI: I would like to encourage the panel to note in the report 
that there is a fundamental deficiency in that the current procedures are 
linked to cigarette advertising. A number of presenters mentioned that 
currently one-third of cigarette brands are generics. There is no requirement 
that a cigarette brand be advertised. I here is no law that says that you must 
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