Warring over Warnings

If the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee has its way, the following unequivocal label will appear on cigarette packs and in all advertising for cigarettes starting next year: WARNING! CIGARETTE SMOKING CAUSES CANCER, EMPHYSEMA, HEART DISEASE; MAY COMPLICATE PREGNANCY; AND IS ADDICTIVE. The Senate effort, headed by Democrat Thomas Eagleton, who smokes a pack a day of Pall Malls, is the latest and strongest warning about cigarettes.

In 1957, after the first Government caveat concerning smoking, Utah Senator Wallace Bennett introduced a bill to require the admonition: WARNING: PROLONGED USE OF THIS PRODUCT MAY RESULT IN CANCER, IN LUNG, HEART AND CIRCULATORY AILMENTS, AND OTHER DISEASES. Nothing happened until 1965 when, in the wake of a 1964 Surgeon General's report on smoking, Congress passed the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act. This called for the first pack label: CAUTION: CIGARETTE SMOKING MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH. In 1970, the wording was strengthened to read: WARNING: THE SURGEON GENERAL HAS DETERMINED THAT CIGARETTE SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH.

The Tobacco Institute opposes all warnings, arguing that no one has ever proved that a link exists between smoking and illnesses. Says Spokesman William Toohey: "We don't believe we know conclusively that smoking causes heart disease or cancer. It may or may not." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.