FROK: Michel Desc6teaux TO: R.M. Gibb
February 26. 1981
Millbank Public Affairs Smoking and Health
Handbook to employees
Bonjour Bob,
Thank you for sending me the eighth draft of this
proposed
handbook. I find it most interesting that BAT
would undertake such
a project and, should they be successful, perhaps
co0d we consider
adopting it for our own employees in one.way or
another.
The following are My comments as they peopped up
during my reading
of the text:
1. Page 2, second paragraph: Vy criticism rests
here. essentially
on the wording. Instead of saying that "the great
majority of
smokers do not die from lung cancer" I would
suggest that they
give some indication of what the great majority
is, like "More
than 99% of smokers do not contract (or die from)
lung cancer".
2. Page 2, last paragraph: I find the comment
about some
scientists believing that it is "purely
coincidental " pretty
audacious. I wonder if there are enough scientists
of high
repute who have this opinion to justify including
it in the text
but this is not for me to Judge.
The last sentence of the paragraph should, in my
opinion,
clearly include smo~,-ing as one of the factors
that may
contribute to the incidence of the diseases which
are associated
with smoking.
C)
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110
C)
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November 1999


page 2
3. Page S. last paragraph: "It follows that the
reductions
currently observed must be largerly associated
with the early
post-1960 move to filter cigarettes". This-hole
section creates
a major problem in my view. one of inconsistency.
If, in the
first part of the handbook, BAT expresses the
opinion that
smoking does not cause certain diseases or is not
a contributing
factor, how can they point out that areduction in
the incidence
of the same diseases is probably a reflection of
the newly
developed filtered or lower "tar" delivery
cigarettes. It seems
to me that it is a case of having your cake and
eating it too.
In my opinion, the lower disease incidence
forecast, if it is to
be pointed out by the industry, is a validation of
the
accusations against tobacco as a contributing
factor to these
diseases.
4. Page 7, first paragraph: I believe that BAT,
having explained
what "tar" is (in fact, saying Oat "tar" and tar
are not the
4 V.- r,;*
same thing at all), should always use 64ek-sts
when referring to
"tar" so as to limit possibilities of confusion.
S. Page 7, last paragraph: They say that nicotine
can be a Z
stimulant or a tranquilizer depending on the needs
of the
smoker. I think they should really say that ,this
depends on the
dose absorbed by the smoker rather than on tts
needs.
6. Page 8: 1 think reference should be made to the
fact that
carbon monoxide is naturally present in the human
body. whether
one smokes or not. I also think that, to be
unmistakenly clear,
it should be mentioned that it is produced by
humans, animals
and plants.
C--
Uli
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page 3
Finally. I am somewhat concerned with the last
sentence not only
for the implications for smokers but for also for
the
implications in the.passive smoking debate. This
is not the
only place where BAT has a statement about
doctors' advice and I
think they should word their statement somewhat
differently,
perhaps along the following lines: "Nevertheless,
some doctors
advise patients-suffering from an illness which
could be
aggravated by an increased carbon monoxi'de level
in their blood
to abstain from smoking
7. Page 10, first paragraph: I L.1 very suprised
to find BAT
mentioning that there indeed exist some people who
are allergic
to tobacco smoke. My impression was that no
allergy to tobacco
smoke had ever been identified. only an allergy to
leaf
extracts. I would suggest that they crosscheck
this information
very closely as allergy is one of the many
arguments that anti-
smokers use in the passive smoking debate.
8. Page 10, last paragraph: I am amazed that BAT
would agree with
the advice of .*octors concerning pregnant women.
I would
suggest here that they word their paragraph
somewhat differently
along the following lines: "Nevertheless, in the
absence of
definitive answers to this question, many doctors
advice their
pregnant patients to modify their smoking habits
during
pregnancy as a sensible part of prenatal behavior
not unlike the
advised reduction in alcohol consumption or in the
use of non
prescribed medecine." BAT's agreement could open
the door to
claims for warnings on cigarette packages, for
example, and has
very important implications in the passive smoking
debate.
9. Page 13,.last two paragraphs: Frankly, the
oft-quoted '
calculation of how many minutes you take off your
life by
smoking one cigarette.is full of baloney and I
would recommend
to BAT that they express themselves much more
strongly than the
very tame comment they now have.
\0
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page 4
10. Pages 16 and 17: 1 will. not comment on any
detail on this .
subject except to say that it appears rather
incomplete to me.
In concluding, I would like to mention .that I get
a feeling of
confusion from reading'the material.. This
brochure covers, i n my
.opinion, far too many subjects of too different a
nature to make a.
cohesive unit.' I wottld rather suggest to BAT
that they-split up the
contents into smaller independent pamphlets.
lid
MD
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LA
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BATCo document for Province of British Columbia 4
November 1999