U.S. Criticized for Tobacco Exports : Marketing a World ‘Cancer Epidemic,’ Official Charges

The U.S. tobacco industry, constrained at home by labeling restrictions and a ban on television advertising, is exporting a “cancer epidemic” by heavily promoting cigarette ad campaigns abroad and falsely labeling its products, a World Health Organization official charged Sunday.

“We see a double standard here. We are the nation that’s addressed malnutrition and infectious disease in the world. But as a nation we are now exporting our cancer epidemic,” said Dr. Gregory Connolly of WHO. “Our high-powered marketing and advertising programs overseas are used in many developing countries to promote smoking.”

Meanwhile, federal officials disclosed that Surgeon General C. Everett Koop will release a report in several weeks showing the addictive powers of nicotine, especially compared to other drugs. The report is likely to trigger demands for additional restrictions on the sale and marketing of cigarettes in the United States, officials predicted.

Much Freer Hand

However, the new findings are not expected to produce similar pressures in foreign nations, where tobacco companies have a much freer hand. And the U.S. government bears much of the responsibility, said Connolly, during an appearance on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.” He said that the government has fronted for American tobacco firms by persuading several nations, including Japan, to abandon plans to ban cigarette ads on television.

Connolly’s charges drew a vigorous rebuttal from Rep. Larry J. Hopkins (R-Ky.), who sits on the House Agriculture Committee’s tobacco subcommittee. Hopkins, who appeared with Connolly on the same show, said that the key purpose of tobacco advertising is not to convince people to smoke, but to influence them to change brands.

Hopkins stressed that tobacco sales are legal and that American tobacco companies comply with the advertising standards and labeling requirements of foreign nations. They are under no obligation to duplicate the same standards that apply in the United States, he added.

Farm Economy Cited

The World Health Organization, Hopkins said, should “quit beating up on a legal crop in America and focus instead on the illegal drugs that come into this country. There are 150,000 farm families in Kentucky and 600,000 tobacco-growing farmers in our country that are going to be pushed closer to welfare if the World Health Organization has its way and makes them stop growing tobacco.”

Connolly retorted that 2.5 million people died in the world last year from cigarette smoking, “far more than die from illegal drugs.” He also challenged the notion that U.S. tobacco advertising in foreign nations has not had damaging health effects.

“There are 1 billion females in the Orient who don’t smoke,” Connolly said. “American tobacco companies have . . . targeted 2 billion female lungs that haven’t been contaminated by tobacco. It’s not a matter of brand switching, it’s creating new demand among Oriental females and youth to offset the people that have quit in the United States.”

More important, he said, U.S. tobacco firms have labeled their products in misleading ways. In the Philippines, for example, cigarettes sold as Marlboro Lights actually have 50% higher tar content than the same product sold in the United States. Also, the companies are not required to put health warnings on cigarette packages sold in the Philippines and other foreign countries.

Report Findings Previewed

Connolly’s concerns were echoed Sunday by Dr. Ronald M. Davis, director of the federal Office of Smoking and Health, who previewed some of the findings of the new report to be released soon by the surgeon general on the addictive nature of tobacco.

“We hope that once the public begins to understand that this is more than just a simple habit, (they will) begin to take this behavior more seriously,” said Davis, who also appeared on the CBS show.

“Why, for instance, do we sell tobacco products in vending machines? We don’t allow other addicting drugs to be sold in vending machines,” David said. “Why do we allow free samples of the product to be sent through the mail? Or to be passed out on public property where kids and others have free access to them?”

Davis said the new report will stimulate further debate in Congress, despite the considerable political influence of the tobacco industry. In 1986, he noted, the surgeon general’s report on the health effects of passive smoking accelerated the trend toward restricting or banning smoking in public places and in the workplace.

“We hope that all segments of society . . . will begin to take a much more serious look at this product,” Davis added. “As we have a growing awareness of how hazardous a product this is, we’ll begin to take actions that we’ve taken long ago for most other consumer products.”