AMA Told It Should Lead Fight to End Smoking by 2000
The American Medical Assn. should take the lead to snuff out cigarette smoking by the year 2000, the group’s policy-making House of Delegates decided last week.
Dr. Ed. L. Calhoon, a delegate from Beaver, Okla., introduced the resolution to become more active in the nonsmoking fight.
Calhoon said a strong anti-smoking position was necessary because some AMA members and the public perceived the medical group as “a bit negligent in trying . . . to speak to this issue.”
Smoking causes up to 350,000 deaths annually in the United States, said Calhoon, also a member of the advisory board of the National Cancer Institute.
The AMA House of Delegates also agreed that it should respond “in a timely fashion” to national advertising campaigns that discount the scientifically determined effects of tobacco.
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