Tobacco Firm Belittles ‘Used’ Smoke’s Effects

The tobacco industry began what is expected to be a vigorous counterattack against the government assault on smoking Monday as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. launched a public relations campaign to “bring some balance to the debate surrounding second-hand smoke and other issues surrounding cigarettes.”

In full-page advertisements in major U.S. newspapers, the company insisted that nonsmokers are routinely exposed to “very little” second-hand smoke.

The ads claimed that in a month a nonsmoker living with a smoker would be exposed to environmental smoke that was, on average, the equivalent of smoking 1 1/2 cigarettes in a month. “A nonsmoking waiter working eight hours a day, five days a week” for a month would be exposed to the equivalent of two cigarettes, according to the ads.

“And a nonsmoker sharing a modern office with a smoker would, on average, be exposed to the equivalent of 1 1/4 cigarettes” in a month, the ads concluded.

The company’s action came at a time when smokers are under an unprecedented siege by the federal government, states and other forces.

Two weeks ago, tobacco proponents suffered a significant defeat when the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health and the environment approved a measure that would impose widespread restrictions on smoking in public facilities.

Also, the Labor Department has proposed rules to prohibit smoking in the workplace, and the Pentagon has announced that it will do so in its work sites worldwide.

Most of these initiatives have been fueled by the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency to classify second-hand smoke as a “Class A carcinogen,” meaning that it is an indisputable cause of cancer.

The EPA and an array of medical and public health experts have called second-hand tobacco smoke a cause of lung cancer and heart disease in nonsmokers and of asthma in children.

The agency has estimated that such environmental smoke causes about 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmokers annually and that as many as 300,000 children younger than 18 months become sick every year from smoke.

The industry has challenged the EPA’s ruling, saying that the agency did not conduct any original research and its conclusions were based on flawed science.

EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner lashed out at the Reynolds campaign Monday, saying that it “will not distract the public from the real issue: that second-hand smoke poses a serious health problem.”

Dr. Chris Coggins, a toxicologist who is a scientist with Reynolds, said that the company’s calculations are based on measuring nicotine levels in the air, since it is a compound found both in mainstream smoke and second-hand smoke and is “the only commonly used second-hand smoke marker that is specific to tobacco.”

The ads urged discussion rather than government intervention, saying that “the solution to most smoking issues can be found in accommodation.”