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Stephen. J. Jay, MD, School of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Indiana University, 1050 Wishard Blvd., RG 4175, Indianapolis, IN 46202, 317-274-3126, sjay@iupui.edu
The roots of contemporary tobacco policy may be traced to now obscure congressional hearings that were held only six days after U.S. Surgeon General (SG) Leroy Burney announced that smoking was likely causally linked to lung cancer. On July 18, 1957, John Blatnik, (D. MN.) convened hearings into the effectiveness of Federal agencies charged with protecting the public against false advertising claims. Blatnik chaired the Legal and Monetary Affairs Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Government Operations; and with seven subcommittee members, four Democrats and three Republicans, he led six days of electrifying testimony on “False and Misleading Advertising of Filter-Tip Cigarettes” ---the first such hearings in U.S. history. Scientists Hammond and Wynder concluded that smoking caused lung cancer. SG Burney agreed. Clarence Little, Chairman of the Tobacco Industry Research Committee, expressed strong doubt. The Blatnik Hearings prompted a shocked tobacco industry to create in 1958 the now infamous Tobacco Institute that would shape pro-tobacco policy for four decades. Anti-tobacco congressional leaders, Wallace Bennett (R. Utah) and Richard and Maurine Neuberger, (both D. OR.) and John Blatnik proposed tobacco legislation. The nation’s press covered the hearings with strong pro and anti-tobacco articles. In 1959, SG Burney formally linked smoking with lung cancer thus spawning the 1964 SG Report on Smoking & Health. Remarkably, John Blatnik’s memoirs and archives and those of his subcommittee members reflect nothing of these historic hearings. The relevance of the 1957 Blatnik hearings to the evolution of contemporary tobacco policy will be reviewed.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the learner in this session will be able to
Keywords: Tobacco Policy, Public Health Policy
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.