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> For women smokers the death rate from lung cancer appears to be increasing along the same lines as that for men. > There is not yet enough evidence to show whether filter cigarettes are really safer than "straights." > Quitting smoking definitely helps. >Pipe smoking is almost harmless. One risk: a slight increase in the incidence of cancer of the lip. > Cigar smoking, up to five cigars a day, is apparently safe; for men who smoke more than five cigars a day, the death rate is only slightly higher than for nonsmokers. > "Possible benefits" from the use of tobacco took only 1½ pages of the report. The committee decided that they lie in "a psychogenic search for contentment," and cannot be measured. Tar & Nicotine. The committee's report was presented in the auditorium of the Old State Department building last Saturday morning, a time carefully chosen to make the Sunday newspapers and because all stock exchanges were closed. It was handled with all the secrecy of a state document, but its tenor had been widely anticipated. Retail sales of pipes, including dainty little bowls for women, had boomed. So had sales of filter cigarette holders. American Tobacco Co. jumped the gun by beginning to market Carlton, a filter cigarette, with its tar and nicotine content—claimed to be well below the average for popular brands—clearly shown on the package.
How much effect the report would have was uncertain. After every such previous report, there has been a sharp drop in cigarette sales, soon followed by a rebound. Smokers tried to kick the habit, only to light up again. The answer lies in what eventually emerges from the committee's call for "appropriate remedial action." What should this be?
That, Dr. Terry said, was not in the jurisdiction of his committee, but he added that federal agencies consider the report so significant that there will be "no foot dragging."
Tobacco Institute Spokesman George V. Allen, pressed for comment, said he had not had time to read the full 387-page report with its 80 tables, added: "I endorse wholeheartedly Dr. Terry's call not for less but for more research.
The tobacco industry, which is already supporting a considerable body of health research, stands ready to increase that support." Though the Surgeon General's committee insisted that the "causal relationship" of smoking to disease has been proved, it can agree with the tobaccomen that the mechanisms of causation remain to be found.
The Federal Trade Commission was already reviewing its regulations pertaining to cigarette advertising, with a view to tightening them. Paced by CBS, all TV networks decided to re-examine their advertising standards. Oregon Senator Maurine Neuberger (whose husband had been a cancer victim) plans to introduce two bills aimed at forcing manufacturers to state nicotine and tar content. What more will result from the committee's call for "remedial action" remains to be seen.
— "Possible benefits" from the use of