BACKGROUND NOTE: In 1992, the ASSIST program was in its formative stages. ASSIST was the
American Stop Smoking Intervention Study. It was the country's most
organized and widespread tobacco-control effort to date. The ASSIST
program was fueled by $135 million in grants distributed among 17
states, and the program was to last five or more years. The money came
from the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society. The
idea behind ASSIST was to mobilize and fund local volunteer coalitions
in the 17 ASSIST states to advance tobacco control at the local
level--the level where efforts prove most effective, and where the
tobacco industry was the weakest.
As with any major public health effort aimed at tobacco education,
cessation and prevention, the tobacco industry saw ASSIST as a huge
threat. Document show that the industry plotted to attack and dismantle
the ASSIST program. Today's document shows the tobacco industry's
strategies to disrupt the ASSIST Program. Those who have been with the
ASSIST programs in your state for some time know that several of these
strategies were carried out.
Note how this document also reveals (yet again) the real reasons behind
the industry developing its own youth programs-- they were a way to
thwart the ASSIST program and to enable the companies to "suggest that
further Federal or state funding is not needed for youth anti-smoking
campaigns."
Quotes:
Principle Concerns:
--Over the next 7 years $135 million dollars will be allocated. HHS
estimates that $105 [million] will actually be used for ASSIST program
objectives. 1991 to 1993 will be used to organize volunteers, track
targeted smoking groups and get projects ready for implementation.
While $135 million is the magic number being used, it is likely that
other HHS departments will be used to supplement ASSIST funding.
--ASSIST dollars will be channeled through state and local Departments
of Health to develop counter-tobacco education programs - including
Prop. 99-type ads - school curriculums, and restrictions on our sales
and marketing practices.
Industry Response: There are a number of opportunities to disrupt
ASSIST funding:
1) Congressional Investigation
...A more thorough investigation should be launched, particularly in
terms of the NCI/ACS relationship and the use of federal funds for state
and local lobbying purposes. With the current budget debate in
Washington, this would be a good time to launch an investigation...
2) Local Challenges:
Washington Legal Foundation/other groups could at the same time launch
concurrent injunctive challenges in ASSIST states to stop dispersal of
funds while the Congressional investigation is going on....
3) Charitable Reform
This may also afford us an opportunity to expand the debate on what
charitble organizations can do under their non-profit charters...
4) Use of Health Advocacy Groups
At both the state and Federal levels a number of Health Advocacy groups
could also attack [Secretary] Sullivan for failing to address major
health care issues - AIDS, pre-natal, teen-pregnancy, affordable health
care, child immunization - instead of wasting more Federal dollars on
anti-smoking programs.
5) Economic Organization Activity at the State Level:
...The anti's own materials could be used against them, particularly the
Surgeon General's claim that 90% of smokers do not require assistance in
quitting smoking...If the vast majority of smokers can stop on their
own, they don't need federally funded medical programs to help them.
6) Tobacco Industry Activities:
Also, as a major goal of ASSIST is to reduce youth incidence, the
tobacco industry could also offer our own youth initiatives with Tobacco
Helping Youth Say No, and the COURSE Consortium,... and suggest that
further Federal or state funding is not needed for youth anti-smoking
campaigns.
"I believe that these are the most effective means of disrupting ASSIST.
I welcome your comments."
Anne Landman
American Lung Association of Colorado, West Region Office
Grand Junction
Title: Counter ASSIST Plan
Type of Document: memo
Author: Joshua Slavitt, PM USA
Recipient(s): Ted Lattanzio, Jack Nelson, and Tina Walls
Date: 19920117
Site: Philip Morris Document site http://www.pmdocs.com/
Bates No.: 2023916866/6867
URL: http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=2023916866/6867
