8 *">. 3
J 104
CONT'il I
`.ino!cin~ and Health Oowl
It is now possible to set do,rn some thourhts on
the public.-,tion of
the ft.C.i% Poticrt 'Smuking and Health and on the
reception given
to it.
It rot exceDtionally heaw
f publicity. Hucli had already appeared
during thc last nine months of 197r) by ..,ay of
IeJacod information.
But all the information media were clearly ready
to 7,ive its formal
publication lica,31-ine treatm,-nt, an.! 'his it
duly (-,at. The introducto.-7
y 5th was timed to allow coverage
press conference ant 11.30 a.m. on Januai-
In the early af'.crnoon editions of 'Llie London
cvcnin~ ?a7ers and in thc
main provincial w-reninrzof that day. 'Aie
broadcantin~ services were
effactivoly able -.a talce up the subject in thqir
news bulletins and
f It was correctl-, calculated that
eatures from a!-.c-,it 5.LO o.ri. onwards.
f
the national dailier, of the follcxrin~ rvrninr
-i-ould still treat it as
imoortant front -pa-,e neiis. 'flic 1.-.st major
s?read of iress publicity
war in the Sunday papers of Jinuary 10th, though
small pieces may be
expected to appear for some tine to ccmc. Radio
and television have
continued to bro~dca,-t sniokin- itemis of minor
significance ard the weirht
of publicit/ hu-2 har, been nuc:i incrca3~d by the
existcrice of the provincial
stations. The n-;:-.erou3 early intervici..,s
~;ith leading personalities such
as Lord Rosenhci:i, Dr. Charles 171ctcher aryl
.1rofesscr Scaddin.-Z, have been
followed by oth,?-:; .,rith peoLle of lesser
national importance or of mainly
local intere:;t.
The qualit-~ of the publicity is more si,,nificant
than its mere
Volume. From thiZ ooin-, of view. the success of
the operation must be
considered qualil-cd. The dcc~orzl t-.-o chief
aims vore a) to bring
home harshly to 12-e public the lical6i facts a,'
the situation as they
see it; and b) b-!- viiorous criticism a.'
governmental inaction since the
1962 report, to st4_111ulato o'fic-ial action.
Press and oublic r-zantion
Thav had~ in the main, the strinort of the nedia
%-!he took full advantage
of the oo ortunit-, '.a de-loy the 'horrif-.-inr,
statistics' contained in the
.p
report; and ,,he, lacking for the most part any
oririnal editorial viewpoints,
were happy to jwnp on the bancl wagon of
criticizing the government. Lnong
the newspapers thc--c were notable anA influential
exception::. Leaders in
The Times and the Daily Tu1e;;r_--pii of Januari
6th, and articlcs in the
Sunday Tcle.:I,raph arO SundAy ".x:)russ of
J.--inUary 1(Ali, voiced serious doubts
about the ri:,ht of th,3 3tate to intc.-vene
compulzorily in the matter, and
about the pr~,)ricty or compe ".!Ice of the
doctor5 in settin:- them, selves CZ)
up as the couiit-.yl:; mentors. This
indi-ridu.-,1i:;tic reaction to the
L7
BATCO doCUMOnt for Province of BritiSh ColUrnbia
29 October 1999


collectivist an-)roach of the doctors has been
echoed in the resnonse of
the 'man in the screet'. .~s nortrayed in radio,
television and press
interviews, and in the net-7:3paper correspondence
columns, he has chosen
to treat the problem as a personal one for private
decision and not as
a national issue. Addressed by the doctors in
tones of moral
earnestness, and reminded by them of the economic
futility of his
behaviour both in terms of oersonal health and of
viorkirr.,-days lost to
the nation, the average man has relused to take
them at their own level
of seriousncss a-nd has reacted with sardonic
cheerfulness in favcur of a
lottery betireen p.l.eazurc ami illness or even
death. Looking at the steady
erosion on medical grounds of so many areas of
satisfaction - food, drink,
sex - he regards the inclusion of smokinz,, as yet
another proof of the theory
that the practice of medicine is "a conspiracy to
enable you to die healthy".
It is intera~tin.,, to note here that. two
objectives of the new report
do not seem to ha-.-a been fulfilled in its
popular interpretation. One
was the intentien to brin-c- home the im7ortance
o' cigarette-smoking as
a general health risk; and the other that the
risks of smo'(inF,, during
proFnanc,-,, should be dramatized. In the event,
the story has been treated
primarily in ter,.-.s of lun,-.-canccr, 4usL as in
19--`2, and the heart and
pregnancy associ.-,-.ions havo. remained
lar:-,el,,r obscured by this. However,
they have not been entirely overlookei and iL
sceris likely lDhat t.ncy
All be aiong the ocints which .-,jH (,action on
znoking and li.-alth) will
try to get across to the public.
Political rraction
The politic=-'- reaction liar, been loss
imnic,.1i4tely evident, but it seems
that, i-rith the e-ception of those wlio are
already active aj:7ainst smoking
and who have re-iterated their views fro;i set
nositions, most 12S have
found other subjects, such as the Industrial
Relations Bill or the
Post Office strike, more enr-rossing than the
!i.C.,-'. Report. The Nabarro
and Favitt Pills ha-.,c had their First Readings
and are for;~:allv before
the House as evidence of virtue, though vithout
Government backing
.,r tn make genuine ororress. The Government, in
the
they are unlikel, ~
person of S Sir Keith Joseph, ha,-, refused to be
-)urhed into action Specifically
on the recommendation:; of the RG11 Recort and has
stuck to the line that he
is enfared in positive discussi,)nr i-Tith the
manufacturers.
It is itorth n-otin::, in tli-isconbixt, that the
doctors ma.,,r have bpen
U4
unfortunat,~ in the timin:~ of thcir F,'c-.)crt,
marrl of whose rcco%mendations,
C:)
in their -)rotective attitude towards the consumer
and their readiness to
order him about, wculd have been more acce.)table
-.-:) a Mbour than to a
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BATCO doCUMOnt for Province of British ColuMbia 29
October 1999


- 3 -
Tory iovernment. The present Government shows
si~-ns of a changint; approach
to consumer protection, arxi of a belief in
personal responsibility which
was significantly forcrhadm-rcd last autumn i.,hcn
Lorri ..*iMlesham crolained
the Government's c1ccision not to introduce
lcr:islation to raise the age
at which fireworks may be bour-ht. `,.hat is
needed", he said, "is a readier
and more effective acceptance by -?arents anri
other adults of their o~-Yn
responsibili ties for ensurinr that fireworks,
which are not in themselves
intrinsically dangerous, are safely handled". This
statement, by a young
Tory intallectua.1 with much experience in the
field of television, was
worth more careful attention than it got and nay
prove to have jinportant
policy implications where smoking is concerned.
Professional reaction
The professional reaction, as evidenccd on ra-dio
or television, has
pradictabl.,,r favouared the report though
several. dcctors ha-.-e stressed the
- , u ich safer smokin,,, offers to stonnin:~.
-,jy far the most
alternativF, h
intcrcstin~, and ni~nificant reaction came from
the Lancet, whose editorial
of January 9th uns loRe warm abotit many as?m~cts
al, the re.nort and whose
edition of Januar.7 16-1.11 contr.4n3d a review
o--^ pr,= rcact.ion to it uhich
sugqestad that -.;ithout sustained backing, the
initial paniz it caused would
soon be forrotten.
"Amon:: thns,2 3bscnt ...
The R.C.2. Gammittee -menbers failed 3J-qnAll~- to
make canital out of their
broadcast aoncar;,nces. Inste-d of pro jectim-,
t.-mc-iscive-a -'n the doctor/
patient rclationzaip, they fir-urcd -is
polemicistn, oft(.,n a:-,juin!,' with
politicians on the latter's o,.,*n ground and
mceti-n:,, shar-) criticism for
dogmatizing in ficlft where tasy lick expert
knviledge. These
confrontztions -.:zre robbed of much of their
pungenc.-I.- by t..c absence of three
imoortant oarties in the debate - the 3ecretax-I
of itate, 3ir Xeith Joseph;
the Hpdicz~l '?czc,-.rch Council; and the tobacco
manufacturers. The
deliberate policy of refusin; to take part ijas
well vindicated. Yl=ourhout
the period, crit-icism of the irrhistry eaz
virtually unheard (except from
Lord Platt - an expected, unpleasant but brief
display of hostility on
Radio )i on Janu=-,, 5th) and waz conccntratod
inztead on the -..overnment or
the folly of the connumer. Had industrial
roprasentati,.es joined in, thero
is little doubt t,*-,at they would at once have
unitc-d all other voices Against
themselves. As it is the main inorescinn left
...ith the pifolic is
that they are pla-rin-1- a hcl,-)ful part in
discus:-Aonz irith ~he Depirtm'?rt of
Health, eSDOCially, on the questions of hc.-tlth
.-rarninrr and a~ivertisin-r.
C:D
BATCO document for Province of BritiSh Columbia 29
October 1999


Conclunion
TIIC RX.L'. mounLed a fornidablo attacl, and one-
can only be amazed that
with so much publicity and support b,,hind it, it
:iz still )ossil)le to ar.,=
(for Lliti rex-,on--, -ziven earlier) that it may
not even nou have hit its
tarf7at absoluLcl:f squarely. vie inlustry may
once again heave a cautious
si,71i o[ relicf. flut tbiz; time Uin RX..). has
cloarly recornized that
follow-u.-) ac-Uon is eszential. Thir, exalains
the decision to launch
1,311, whose policics and financinr are st*.ll
uncertain but which may well
prove an -,rvl embzrra:,sin,, on:)onent in future.
And the fact that
the R.C.P. may have miscalculAcd one or two of the
positions which it
took iin viz-a-vI5 the loverninnnt, both in the
tc:,-.t and presentation of
its report, should not be arsiuicd to mo-an th-it
no political action 1-ji2-l
.'-lloirin~ for the time-lar., betireen events and
politics, It is
morn than ;?o:;zibl3 that thr., Is new report has
finally achia,7ed a
der!rcc of Pf~~cct-'L'--cne=s for itS olfl one.
Thc situation rcmain!j one in
which the uLwost vi,ilancc ir; ncded on the r),Lrt
of tlic industry-, which
h,,s boen r;i%,cn c. breathinr-space but has
effectively been -jut on notice
by all the infcr:7.r--'Cicn media that it is
confidently e:rpcctcJ to co-operate
in the tr4c),- -
y busJnczs of telling the public more about the
risks of
smoking.
Car-,obell-johnsor. United
20 January 1971
CO
BATCO document for Province of BritiSh Columbia 29
October 1999