BACKGROUND NOTE: This confidential Philip Morris
document lists the arguments that the
tobacco industry "must cover" in hearings for public smoking bills.
Note the arguments that smoking bans discriminate against women, the
disabled and blue collar workers while favoring white male executives,
and the argument that smoking bans on airplanes will cause a fire
hazard.
Quotes:
The anti-smoking movement's agenda for the 101st Congress includes a
number of proposals to further restrict or prohibit smoking in public
places...At least half a dozen public smoking bills have already been
introduced, including legislation to ban smoking in Federal buildings
and on all domestic airline flights.
What TI and its Allies Must Cover
On public smoking legislation generally, and on airline legislation in
many instances, Tobacco Institute testimony and that of its allies and
interested parties should emphasize:
1. The continued lack of scientific evidence that enviornmental tobacco
smoke is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers....
With respect to airliners, experts must refute the interpretation of the
report published in the February 10, 1989 Journal of the American
Medical Association. That report suggests that passengers in the
nonsmoking section of airliners are harmed by exposure to tobacco
smoke. Nicotine exposure levels cited in the study are comparable to
industry-generated data, but the methodology used to associate these
levels with health harm is flawed....
2. Evidence that smoking is a minor aspect of a serious indoor aair
quality problem -- a problem that can and should be addressed not by
restricting smoking but by providing adequate ventilation via properly
maintained ventilation systems. Smoking restrictions merely appear to
alleviate infoor air pollution problems; ventilation is a comprehensive
solution....
...6. Discriminatory effects of workplace smoking restrictions,
including denying equal access to handicapped workers, selective
enforcement and implementation that affects minorities and blue collar
workers but excludes white male executives...
...8. Aboard airliners, the threat to fire safety posed by
surreptitious smoking in lavatories and by other attempts to conceal --
under newspapers, magazines or blankets--in flight smoking.
Anne Landman
American Lung Association of Colorado, West Region Office
Grand Junction
Document Title: Public Smoking Hearing Readiness (confidential document)
Type of document: report
Author: N/A
Date: Feb., 1989
No. of Pages: 4
Site: http://www.pmdocs.com/
URL: http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=2025848122/8125
