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Public Smoking: The Problem (SDC introduction)

  Tobacco Institute Report
  No author given
  No date listed -- we believe 1985

 
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Page One
Public Smoking: The Problem (SDC Introdution)
Fourteen years ago, Surgeon General Steinfeld launched the campaign to ban smoking in public places, claiming that "evidence is accumulating that the nonsmoker may have untoward effects from the pollution his smoking neighbor forces upon him." Today...
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Page Two
The "public smoking issue is rapidly becoming an extension of the primary issue -- in the media's eys as well as in the public's eye."
"Health, of course, is the underlying reason for all attempts to restrict the smoker's right to smoke in public."
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Page Three
"In 1974, fewer than half the respondents believed this [second-hand smoke is hazardous to health]. Today, nearly 7 in 10 agree. And for the first time, a majority of smokers believe that ambient smoke is hazardous."
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Page Four
Meanwhile, proposals to restrict smoking in public places continue to increase
"You'e heard the numbers. Ourindustry has faced more than 1,200 smoking restriction bills in the last 15 years, with a better than 90 precent success rate."
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Page Five
At the local level, we can expect to face restriction proposals in more than 100 cities and countries, including...
The anti-smokers' new target, of course, is the workplace.
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Page Six
We have 17 professional field staff battling these proposals. They are assisted by lobbyists in each state capital and in local jurisdictions as appropriate. Our volunteer Tobacco Action Network now numbers 85,000; of these, about 12,000 have been identified as activists who can be relied upon to act when the call for help goes out. Yet, we are badly outnumbered by the voluntary health organizations who can call upon more than 3 million members or volunteers nationwide.
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Page Seven
Eighty-five thousand plus versus six million. If we assume 15% of the six million are "activist," as is true with our TAN, we are outnumbered 900,000 to 12,000. "That's a ratio of 75-to1." And, "those numbers don't even take into account the fact that those 75 individuals boast a far greater credibility with legislators and the general public than our one."
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Page Eight
"That's formidable opposition. And there's more."
"The federal government, too, is in on the act. For example:"
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Page Nine
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working with the National Academy of Sciences on a passive smoking study. The EPS claims that 500 nonsmokers may be dying each year from exposure to cigarette smoke. This was recently validated by one department within the agency.
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Page Ten
"There's been talk of Congressional hearings on this issue, too. Last time, in 1978, was in the House Agriculture Committee, with Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina, who was friendly toward the industry. This time, we may be facing Rep. Henry Waxman's Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.
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Page Eleven
[from p. 10] "What do these health claims, the heightened public sentiment for smoking restrictions, increasing nonsmoker annoyannce toward smokers mean for this industry?"
[from p. 11] "Lower sales, of course."
"Restrictive smoking laws accounted for 21% of the variation in cigarette consumption from state to state..." Those working under restrictions smoked about one-and-one- quarter fewer cigarettes each day. This means nearly 7 billion fewer cigarettes smoked.
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Page Twelve
Seven billion fewer cigarettes, "that's 350 million packs of cigarettes. At a dollar a pack, even the lightest of workplace smoking restrictions is costing this industry $233 million a year in revenue. How much more will it cost us with far more restrictive laws such as those in Suffolk County and Fort Collins now being enacted?"
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BACKGROUND NOTE: This document reveals in very straightforward language the reason why the tobacco industry fights measures that provide the public with clean indoor air: reduced sales.

It also discusses the industry's lobbying structure in the states, the difficulties the industry faces due to the efforts of voluntary health organzations, and reveals the results of the tobacco industry's own polls that show overwhelming (and steadily increasing) public support for smoke-free public places and workplaces:

Quotes:
Our ninth Roper survey last year showed a dramatic increase in the number of respondents who believe it is probably hazardous to be around people who are smoking. In 1974, fewer than half of the respondents believed this. Today, nearly 7 in 10 agree. And for the first time, a majority of smokers believe that ambient smoke is hazardous. A decade ago, only 30 percent believed that. If this trend -- toward increasing public acceptance that ambient cigarette smoke is dangerous -- continues, in just eight years we will find that the percentage who accept public smoking as a probable hazard will equal the percentage who accept primary smoking as a hazard.

Although health remains the most salient of the issues addressed by nonsmokers, the Roper results continued to report an increase in the number of people who said they found it annoying to be around smokers. Two-thirds of nonsmokers said they were annoyed. In 1970, only one-third reported annoyance. Even smokers are now reporting annoyance about being around other smokers -- one in ten. A just-completed survey of journalists shows similar results.

...Meanwhile, proposals to restrict smoking in public places continue to increase...what began in the states in Arizona in 1973 has spread across the country -- most recently to the local and federal levels.

You've heard the numbers. Our industry has faced more than 1,200 smoking restriction bills in the last 15 years, with a better than 90 percent sucess rate [of defeat].

...But we are badly outnumbered by the voluntary health organizations, who can call upon more than 3 million members or volunteers nationwide...we are outnumbered 900,000 to 12,000 in terms of individuals who are willing to act when called upon. That's a ratio of 75-to-1.... And those numbers don't even take into account the fact that those 75 individuals boast a far greater credibility with legislators and the general public than our one.

...Public opinion is increasingly on the anti-smoker' side as well. Our 1984 Roper survey found increasing support for separate sections for smokers in public places, especially in eating and work places. A decade ago, about half the public favored separate smoking and nonsmoking sections in restaurants. Today, 90 percent do.

...What do these health claims, the heightened public sentinment for smoking restriction, increasing nonsmoker annoyance toward smokers mean for this industry? Lower sales, of course....The Tobacco Merchant's Association took a look at smoking restriction legislation and cigarette consumption between 1951 and 1982. Restrictive smoking laws accounted for 2% of the variation in cigarette consumption from state to state during that time...

[again citing Roper data]...Those who say they work under [smoking] restrictions smoked about one-and-a-quarter fewer cigarettes each day than those who don't. That may sound light, but remember we're talking about light restrictions, too.... Those 220 people in our survey who work under smoking restrictions represent some 15 million Americans. That one-and-one-quarter per day cigarette reduction, then, means nearly 7 billion fewer cigarettes smoked each year because of workplace smoking restrictions... That's 350 million packs of cigarettes. At a dollar a pack, even the lightest of workplace smoking restrictions is costing this industry 233 million dollars a year in revenue. How much more will it cost us with far more restrictive laws such as those in Suffolk County and Fort Collings now being enacted?

Anne Landman
American Lung Association of Colorado, West Region Office
Grand Junction


Document Title: I. Public Smoking: The Problem (SDC introduction)
Type of Document: speech/presentation
Author: No author given
Date: No date given
No. of Pages: 12
Site: Tobacco Institute http://www.tobaccoinstitute.com/
URL:
http://www.tobaccoinstitute.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=TIMN0014554/4565

 

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