Daily Doc: PM, Jan 3, 1971: Some women like it
Daily Doc: Some women like it
Title: Face the Nation broadcast over the CBS Television network and the CBS Radio Network Sunday, 710103 - 11:30 am - 12:00 noon EST
PM, Jan 3, 1971
Bates #: 1005081714/1732
January 5, 1999
Here's a partial transcript of a CBS "Face the Nation" show broadcast Sunday, January 3, 1971. The program featured an interview with Joseph Cullman, then Chairman of the Board of Philip Morris, Inc. The interviewers asked Cullman if he was aware of a massive study done in the United Kingdom of 17,000 pregnant women and their newborns. The study showed that babies of smoking mothers were had a greater incidence of low birth weight than non-smoking mothers, that smoking mothers had an increased risk of stillbirth and infant death within 28 days of birth. Cullman said he was aware of the study and its results. His response raised some eyebrows. He said
"Some women would prefer having smaller babies."
Many of the questions asked of Cullman in this interview are still pertinent today, such as why Philip Morris continues to market promote smoking among women through the Virginia Slims tennis tournament, all the while knowing that smoking can hurt fetuses of pregnant women.
The passage we are interested in is on Pages14-15 of the transcript. Interviewers are: George Herman, CBS News, Morton Mintz, The Washington Post, Earl Ubell, Science Editor, WCBS-TV News.
CITATION
Title: Face the Nation broadcast over the CBS Television network and the CBS Radio Network Sunday, 710103 - 11:30 am - 12:00 noon EST
Origination: Washington, D.C.
Type of Document: Transcript
Author: Columbia Broadcasting System
Date: 710103
Page Count: 19
Site: Philip Morris document site http://www.pmdocs.com/
Bates No.: 1005081714/1732
URL: http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=1005081714/1732
QUOTES
Mr. Mintz: Do you believe that cigarettes are safe? Have they been proven to be safe, Mr. Cullman?
Mr. Cullman: I believe they have not been proved to be unsafe.
Mr. Mintz: Well, in view of the fact that they haven't been proved to be safe, what is the justification that you would offer for spending -- according to one estimate I've seen -- $3 billion in the last 20 years to promote their use when there is that uncertainty, when we have an excess deaths of 200,000 to 300,000 a year, when there is all this evidence, which you don't feel is conclusive--what is the reason for promoting its use when it might cause cancer, heart disease and so forth?
Mr. Cullman: Well, I'd have to answer that in this way, Mr. Mintz. There are a great many people in the United States and all over the world who enjoy smoking, who find it satisfies a very important human need. We think those people are entitled to the best possible product we can produce. That's essentially our job.
Mr. Mintz: Now embryos don't have much choice; fetuses don't. They don't like to smoke. The British Medical Research Council did a study of all the 17,000 babies born in a single week in the United Kingdom, as you doubtless know. The Council found that those babies born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy were significantly higher in proportion small, weighing under five and a half pounds approximately, than the babies born to mothers who did not smoke, and there was a higher rate of stillbirths and of deaths within 28 days of birth. My question is, in view of this study, which is the largest and most elaborate of its kind ever made, is it right to promote smoking among women with Virginia Slims and other brands especially marketed for them with no warnings as to the danger to the embryo that may exist?
Mr. Cullman: Well, you are reading that question because it is a complicated question.
Mr. Mintz: Yes, it is.
Mr. Cullman: I would say that I did read that report, and I concluded from the report that it's true that babies born from women who smoke are smaller, but they are just as healthy as the babies born to women who do not smoke. Some women would prefer having smaller babies.
Mr. Mintz: What about the higher rate of death?
Mr. Cullman: I'm not familiar with that.
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