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ALLOW US TO INTRODUCE YOU TO ASH 1964 / 1965 / 1966 / 1967 / 1968 / 1969 / 1970 / 1971 / 1972 / 1973 / 1974 / 1975 / 1976 / 1977 / 1978 / 1979 / 1980 / 1981 / 1982 / 1983 / 1984 / 1985 / 1986 / 1987 / 1988 / 1989 / 1990 / 1991 / 1992 / 1993 / 1994 / 1995 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 1999 /2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 /2008 / 2009 Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is a national nonprofit legal action and educational organization fighting for the rights of nonsmokers against the many problems of smoking. ASH uses the tremendous power of the law to represent nonsmokers in courts and legislative bodies and before regulatory agencies. ASH was formed in 1967 by Executive Director John F. Banzhaf III, and a distinguished body of physicians, attorneys and other prominent citizens who saw the need for an effective organization to represent nonsmokers' rights. Although its income is tiny compared with the big national health organizations also active in the field, ASH has been a major factor in the war against smoking. For this reason, and because of its location in the nation's media center, ASH has also emerged as a major spokesperson for nonsmokers on radio and television and in the print media. Unlike the many smaller state, local and specialty antismoking organizations with which it cooperates closely, ASH is active with regard to all aspects of the problems of smoking and nonsmokers' rights, and has a truly national focus.
In the many years following the release of the original "Surgeon General's Report" on smoking in January of 1964, the war on smoking has made enormous progress, and ASH has played a major role. Below are a number of the most important events and milestones in this war on smoking and for nonsmokers' rights. Those marked with a indicate significant ASH involvement.
Original "Surgeon General's Report" issued. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposes to require health warnings indicating that cigarette smoking is "dangerous to health and may cause death from cancer and other diseases." Instead the "Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act" requires a weaker warning and prevents the FTC and states from any other regulation of tobacco advertising. John F. Banzhaf III, files a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), arguing that stations broadcasting cigarette commercials should be required to provide free time for the opposing view. In response Banzhaf's petition, the FCC rules that the "Fairness Doctrine" applies to cigarette commercials, and that radio and television stations must devote hundreds of millions of dollars worth of broadcast time to antismoking messages Delegates from 34 countries attend the first World Conference on Smoking and Health in New York Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is formed by Banzhaf and others to defend and enforce the Fairness Doctrine ruling, and to add legal action as a new weapon to war on smoking. ASH files a complaint with the FTC charging the Tobacco Institute with ghost writing and deceptively promoting pro-smoking articles in True and National Enquirer. FTC upholds complaint, and urges a ban on cigarette commercials. US Court of Appeals upholds, in case entitled Banzhaf vs. FCC, "Fairness Doctrine" ruling requiring broadcasters to carry anti-smoking messages. ASH files complaint with the FTC charging several tobacco companies with widely promoting filter cigarettes in so-called "Gas Derby" based on an article they knew was misleading. Gas Derby ceases. FCC rules that stations cannot present all anti-smoking messages during non-prime hours, and must present a significant number during prime time when cigarette commercials are presented. US Supreme Court agrees with a brief filed by ASH and lets stand Banzhaf vs. FCC decision upholding the application of the fairness doctrine to require reply time to cigarette commercials. ASH collects evidence that ambient tobacco smoke is a health hazard, and files a petition with the Civil Aeronautics Board CAB seeking separate smoking and no-smoking sections aboard aircraft. The rule is adopted, and becomes effective in 1973. ASH's Fairness Doctrine decision eventually forces cigarette manufacturers to agree to the ban on cigarette commercials which begins January 2, 1972. Responding to a request from ASH, United Air Lines becomes the first carrier to institute smoking and no-smoking sections. ASH publishes Tobacco and the Nonsmoker: Hazards of Smoke in the Air, the first major report on the hazards of ambient tobacco smoke. The first such report by HEW is issued by the Surgeon General in January 1972. ASH files a petition with the Department of Justice charging that television ads for "Winchester," a so-called "little cigar," violates the ban on cigarette advertising. The ads are eventually discontinued in February 1973. Secretary Elliott Richardson of the HEW accepts ASH's proposals to adopt the first restrictions on smoking in federal buildings. Citing an ASH amicus curiae brief, a special three-judge US District Court upholds the constitutionality of the law prohibiting broadcast advertising for cigarettes. The US Supreme Court agrees ASH's brief and affirms that the law banning cigarette commercials is constitutional. Led by ASH Trustee Betty Carnes, Arizona becomes the first state to pass a comprehensive law protecting nonsmokers. ASH's John Banzhaf defends the Interstate Commerce Commission's (ICC) rule restricting smoking on buses before the US District Court. The rule is upheld in January 1974. A CAB rule proposed by ASH mandating no-smoking sections on airplanes becomes final. A CAB rule proposed by ASH mandating no-smoking sections on airplanes becomes final. ASH legal action forces the long-delayed release of HEW's report on smoking and health. An ASH petition sparks an investigation by the National Institutes of Health into the dangers of carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke. ASH reports to the Third World Conference on Smoking and Health that major antismoking organizations permit smoking in their own offices and meetings. The body condemns the practice. The FTC, in response to ASH's petition, sues the six major cigarette manufacturers concerning their billboard ads. With help from ASH, Donna Shimp, an office worker allergic to smoke, gets an injunction prohibiting smoking in her office. Allegheny Airlines agrees to pay an $8,000 penalty and changes its no-smoking policy to settle complaints filed by ASH with the CAB. Responding to an ASH petition, the FTC announces the beginning of a probe into the tobacco industry's. The probe eventually results in the release of secret tobacco industry surveys. The ICC responds to an ASH petition by strengthening its rules restricting smoking on trains by banning smoking entirely in dining cars and designated no-smoking cars. An ASH request results in a ban on smoking aboard mobile lounges at Dulles International Airport. An ASH petition results in strong warnings about the dangers of smoking while taking birth control pills. The "Great American Smokeout" becomes a national event. ASH attorneys successfully assist in the defense of a Dade County, Florida no-smoking statute. The court says its constitutional. Responding to a petition by ASH, the CAB requires special segregation for pipe and cigar smokers on planes. Shortly thereafter, many airlines ban pipe and cigar smoking entirely. ASH negotiates settlement whereby TWA and Eastern Airlines are forced to pay large fines and provide more protection for nonsmokers. ASH complaints at the CAB yield additional settlements with three more airlines, bringing total fines to over $24,000. The Surgeon General reports that cigarette smoking is a major threat to women's health. ASH protests the appointment of Jerry Apodaca, a director of Philip Morris Co., to chair the President's Council on Physical Fitness. Mr. Apodaca resigns after several months. Both TWA and Pan Am adopt new seating configurations to provide substantially increased protection for nonsmoking passengers, an action triggered by complaints filed by ASH ASH asks major air carriers to protect nonsmoking passengers from exposure to tobacco smoke while in airports. All the major carriers, except Eastern, eventually comply. Insurance companies begin offering discounts on life insurance premiums to nonsmokers. A bill restricting smoking in enclosed public places is signed into law in New Hampshire. The Merit Systems Promotions Board of the Civil Service and the Dept. of Labor rule that employers must make reasonable accommodations to persons sensitive to tobacco smoke. ASH takes the CAB to court to challenge the new rules which reduce the protection provided for nonsmoking passengers. An ASH-inspired lawsuit brought by the FTC against the six major cigarette manufacturers was settled with the companies agreeing to increase the size of warning notices on cigarette billboards. A federal district court holds that a person sensitive to tobacco smoke is a "handicapped person" and that employers must make a "reasonable accommodation" to this handicap. The No-Net-Cost Tobacco Program Act of 1982 passes, supposedly providing that the tobacco price support and production adjustment program will now operate at no net cost to taxpayers. The US Court of Appeals unanimously rules in ASH's favor and orders the CAB to reinstate three previously effective anti-smoking regulations it rescinded in 1981. Cigarette tax revenues will finance cancer research in New Jersey. ASH petitions the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to require smoke detectors in airplane lavatories. The rule is eventually adopted in 1985. The FDA approves "Nicorette", a nicotine-based chewing gum, as a smoking cessation aid. The New York State Assembly passes a bill proposed by Pete Grannis to prevent the free distribution of sample cigarettes in New York. ASH helps persuade the National Association of Health Commissioners (NAIC) to call for higher health insurance premiums for smokers, a move which eventually results in this changes by several companies. San Francisco passes an ordinance requiring businesses to accomodate nonsmokers, even if it means banning smoking in an office, ASH assists the Indian Health Service in creating a nationwide smokefree environment in their facilities. ASH holds First World Conference on Nonsmokers' Rights in Washington, DC. ASH attorneys assist Florida in successfully defending the constitutionality of the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommends a total ban on smoking aboard domestic airlines. Both the US Navy and Army limit tobacco use in their facilities, and ban the sale of tobacco products inside all medical and dental facilities. The General Services Administration (GSA) implements new smoking regulations in all federal work sites. In separate reports, the National Research Council of the NAS, and the U.S Public Health Service in conjunction with the Surgeon General, both conclude that secondhand tobacco smoke causes lung cancer and lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers. ASH joins the American Public Health Association and the Public Citizen Health Research Group in asking the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ban smoking in common workplaces. All smoking is prohibited in restaurants in Beverly Hills, California and Aspen, Colorado. The federal government permits a federally qualified HMO to require smokers to pay a higher premium than nonsmokers. Massachusetts bans recently hired police and fire fighters from smoking off-the-job. President Reagan a law a banning smoking on short flights. Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International ban smoking entirely. The Surgeon General reports that nicotine is a drug which can be as addictive as heroin. ASH helps defeat a law suit against the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in New York for eliminating all smoking cars. A new medical study reports that involuntary or passive smoking kills approximately 46,000 American adults a year. Californians pass Proposition 99 which raises the cigarette by 25¢; some of which will finance antismoking educational programs. ASH helps to defeat a "smokers' rights" bill in Maryland, a bill seen as the first step in a new tobacco industry strategy to give smokers the right to sue on the basis of alleged discrimination. ASH follows its legal petition to OSHA with a lawsuit seeking to require the agency to ban or severely limit smoking in all US workplaces. ASH assists Congressman Tom Luken in documenting how tobacco companies pay producers to feature cigarettes and smoking in movies. ASH plays a major role in persuading Congress to ban smoking on domestic airline flights. The ban goes into effect in 1990. Oregon begins requiring death certificates to list whether smoking was a contributing factor. The ICC, in response to an ASH petition, votes unanimously to ban smoking on all regular and special routes of interstate buses. ASH Freedom of Information Act request forces EPA to release the technical compendium it ETS report, a document which includes an estimate that ETS kills more than 50,000 Americans each year. ASH attorneys provide new information and documents to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In its finalized report NIOSH concluded that ETS meets the criteria of OSHA for classification as a potential occupational carcinogen. Nicotine skin patches are introduced as a new aid to help smokers quit. Courts begin making widespread use of a legal principle promoted by ASH to protect children from smoking in the home. A study estimates that ETS causes 35-40,000 heart attack deaths in American nonsmokers each year. The Supreme Court holds that cigarette manufacturers could be held liable to smokers the companies made false statements, or conspired to misrepresent or conceal the hazards of smoking. The International Civil Aviation Organization voted to urge its members to "restrict smoking progressively on all international flights," leading to a total ban by 1996. The EPA officially determines that secondhand tobacco smoke is a "Group A carcinogen" which kills an estimated 3,000 Americans each year from lung cancer alone, and creates widespread and very serious risks for children. Hillary Clinton bans smoking in the White House. As a direct result of ASH pressure, several fast-food restaurant chains either experiment with or completely ban smoking in their outlets. Responding to information provided by ASH, the Clinton Administration recommends a 75-cent per pack increase in the cigarette excise tax to help finance health care reform. ASH testifies before the House Ways and Means Committee on the need for a much higher cigarette excise tax. Vermont's Clean Indoor Air Law becomes the first statewide statute banning smoking entirely. The city of Los Angeles bans smoking in all restaurants. The US Supreme Court holds that it is "cruel and unusual punishment" to expose a prisoner to levels of tobacco smoke which place his health at risk. The U.S. Postal Service bans smoking in all of its facilities, including lobbies, offices, and cafeterias. Three appellate courts in Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey rule that municipalities may ban the sale of cigarettes through vending machines. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that ETS levels in non-smoking sections of restaurants were significantly higher than in office workplaces or homes with one or more smokers. McDonald's Corp bans smoking in it's company-owned restaurants, followed by Chuck E. Cheese's, Arby's, Taco Bell, and Dairy Queen. Congress passes the Pro-Children Act of 1994 which bans smoking in schools, day care centers, Head Start programs, and other places receiving federal funding for children's services. U.S. Dept of Defense bans smoking in all its workplaces Congress investigates allegations that tobacco companies put extra nicotine into their cigarettes to make them more addictive. OSHA formally proposes a rule to ban smoking in the workplace. The Food and Drug Administration proposes to regulate nicotine as a drug. A tobacco-sponsored initiative that would abolish a new
California law banning smoking in virtually all workplaces including
restaurants is defeated. Delta Air Lines bans smoking aboard its international flights. Dunkin' Donuts bans smoking in its shops. ASH helps persuade court to rule that there's no legal right to smoke ASH successfully defends Maryland's Occupational Safety and Health rules banning smoking in the workplace, which are the strongest state smoking regulations in the nation. Following ASH complaint to the Department of Justice, Philip Morris agrees to remove ads from sports stadiums. A Florida court rules that there's no right to smoke, even off-the-job. The FDA, based upon an ASH precedent, proposes the first
comprehensive regulation of cigarettes and other tobacco products. ASH's complaint triggers federal investigation of smoking in movies ASH files formal complaint seeking a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice of smoking in the movies. ASH's kids contest supporting the FDA tobacco rules results in
largest regulatory filing in American history ever made by children and
a special White House award to ASH. ASH helps persuade President to ban smoking in virtually all federal buildings The Advisory Committee on Tobacco Policy and Public Health, of
which ASH is a member, issues a report in effect condemning the
proposed attorney general tobacco settlement. ASH helps form "Save Lives, Not Tobacco" a coalition of over 300 anti-smoking, public health and other organizations which was a major factor in denying immunity to the tobacco industry. ASH and others help prevent Congressional approval of national tobacco settlement with immunity for cigarette manufacturers. ASH exposes tobacco industry movie product placement, including the Muppet Movie. Despite ASH's legal actions, the multi-state tobacco
settlement appears final. ASH helped persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to consider restoring the FDA's jurisdiction over cigarettes. ASH got the support of U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], and the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] for its proposal to require health warnings for cigars. ASH helped uphold an important $350 million settlement for nonsmokers in Florida which has become final. ASH helped convince Montgomery County, MD, to ban smoking in all restaurants and bars. ASH has persuaded several major restaurant chains to review their policies regarding smoking. ASH helped prevent Liggett Tobacco Company from escaping liability for its cigarettes. ASH helped to formulate the legal theories behind the government's suit against big tobacco, and to prevent Senate attempts to cut off all funding for the suit. ASH found a key legal precedent which may prove decisive in persuading the U.S. Supreme Court to restore the FDA's jurisdiction over cigarettes. ASH provides hundreds of thousands of nonsmokers with information about the problems of smoking and how to protect their rights. ASH appeared numerous times on virtually all major TV news programs, and on hundreds of individual programs, in newspapers and magazines, speaking on behalf of nonsmokers. ASH helped "get the goods" on a so-called tobacco industry
expert. ASH helps kill sellout settlement with Liggett Tobacco Company ASH gets health warnings on cigars ASH helps achieve ban on flights to and from the US Negotiations begin for the Framework Convention Alliance. The
first international treaty that deals exclusively with tobacco issues. ASH successfully helped in persuading President Bill Clinton to issue an executive order prohibiting the government from promoting the sale or export of tobacco products. ASH helps persuade court that there is no legal right to smoke. ASH helps several states in their efforts to increase cigarette excise taxes. ASH helps prompt cigarette Ad Ban in Niger. ASH ensures that Nonsmokers rights remain a key provision in
the negotiations of the first international tobacco treaty.(The
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is unanimously adopted at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. ASH was identified as playing a crucial role during the development of this first legally binding tobacco treaty. ASH aids New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut in passing
STATEWIDE smokefree workplace legislation. ASH's staff is appointed to lead the Framework Convention Alliance, an international coalition of over 200 non governmental organizations from over 100 countries. ASH counsels Sweden on a comprehensive smoking ban. ● American Express, in an overnight letter to ASH, reversed its prior policy and cancelled "various internet cigarette retailer relationships. ● Ten states reached agreement with the federal government and major credit card companies on a plan desinged to prevent the illegal sale of tobacco products over the internet. ● Subsequently, the credit card companies agree not to process payments of illegal tobacco sales. ● Several states have begun forcing smokers to pay taxes on cigarettes they purchased over the Internet. ASH challenges the government's decision - and seeks a government investigation of those behind it - to no longer seek a $130 BILLION dollar payment from the tobacco industry in its RICO law suits against the major cigarette companies. ASH forced XM Radio to stop broadcasting old-time cigarette commercials on its music stations. Laurent Huber, ASH's International Director, was awarded the C. Everett Koop Unsung Hero Award for his work on the world smoking problem. He played a major role in obtaining adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control [FCTC], and serves as the Director of the Framework Convention Alliance [FCA]. With ASH's help, a condo owner in Florida successfully sues a smoking neighbor and obtains damages. In the most recent victory in ASH's campaign to change the law so that children can be protected from tobacco smoke in their own homes, Washington becomes the 17th state in which one or more judges have issued orders banning smoking in a home to protect children involved in custody disputes. ASH helps persuade the Justice Department to seek review in the U.S. Supreme Court of an adverse decision in the government's suit against the major cigarette manufacturers. ASH documents that smoking bans do not have an adverse economic impact by collecting and promulgating many major studies. ASH helps persude the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative [USTR] to appoint a tobacco control advocate to the influential Trade Advisory Board. ASH files a formal complaint against cigarette advertising in several European countries which violate the EU Directive on tobacco advertising. ASH filed a formal legal complaint with the EU
Commission. The complaint caused: ASH helped to persuade the District of Columbia to ban smoking
in virtually all public places, including bars and restaurants ASH helps persuade CBS-TV to declare a plan by Scotts Miracle
Gro to refuse to hire smokers to be a “national model” and the “new
reality” ASH produced a legal document proving that it would be
constitutional and legal for the state of Arkansas to pass a proposed
bill which would ban smoking by women while they are pregnant In a further follow up and expansion of this new front protecting children from exposure to tobacco smoke, ASH was instrumental in developing and promulgating arguments for banning smoking in cars when children are present – a movement which caused a number of states and other jurisdictions to begin doing so during the year. ASH defended the legal validity of a tactic proposed in a major medical journal to consider holding physicians liable when they deliberately fail to follow well-established medical guidelines requiring them to warn smoking patients about the dangers of smoking, and to provide some meaningful supportive treatment, if the patient then subsequently has a heart attack or other serious illness, and the failure to warn and treat was a substantial factor in causing that medical problem. Because the issue of so-called “smokers’ rights” or of an alleged “right to smoke” kept being brought up in legal and legislative procedures, ASH prepared a detailed and heavily footnoted legal brief showing that there is no constitutional, legal, or even moral right to smoke, although the legal right of nonsmokers to be protected from secondhand tobacco smoke is well established. In a related matter, when someone charged in a major travel column that smokers were being treated as “second-class tourists,” ASH’s John Banzhaf provided a major rebuttal which was featured in the column which appeared in dozens of newspapers. ASH, working behind the scenes, and while serving as the Secretariat of the huge Framework Convention Alliance [FCA], helped to persuade the delegates charged with enforcing the world antismoking and nonsmokers’ rights treaty [Framework Convention on Tobacco Control] to adopt very tough guidelines for enforcing the guarantees designed to protect nonsmokers from tobacco smoke. More than two dozen countries have already banned smoking in most public places. ASH’s Executive Director John Banzhaf was chosen to give a keynote address at the Fourth World Conference on Nonsmokers’ Rights on the many new frontiers and fronts in the war to protect nonsmokers’ rights which ASH has been able to open up and support. He also was a major organizer of the Conference. ASH wrote a strong letter of support to all legislators in California proposing and supporting a ban on smoking when children are present. Shortly thereafter, our largest state passed just such a ban; one which is not only continuing to inspire other states as well as jurisdictions around the world, but still remains the most expensive of the bans. Following its earlier success in persuading the City Council of Calabasas, California, to ban smoking in virtually all outdoor areas, ASH’s letter to the City Council of El Cajon, California helped persuade it to adopt a ban which many are saying is even stricter – another step towards inspiring still more jurisdictions to further extend the protections for nonsmokers. In addition to its so-far very successful campaign to urge laws banning smoking whenever children are present in a car, ASH researched and developed a more comprehensive and sweeping proposal for smoking to join activities like cell phone use, watching videos, text messaging, etc. from being permitted in any car because, like these other activities, smoking substantially increases the risk of an accident. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), as part of the campaign it organized several years ago, wrote letters to several East Coast beaches – including Bethany in Delaware – asking for a ban on smoking at the beach to protect the great majority of beach visitors who are nonsmokers. Bethany has agreed, and its beaches will be virtually smokefree during the summer of 2008. ASH was the only organization to expose that Marriott – contrary to its pledge to be "100 percent smoke-free" by September 2006 in all of its all "guest rooms, restaurants, lounges, meeting rooms, public space and employee work areas," has now reneged and agreed to again permit smoking. ASH then began a well-coordinated campaign to alert nonsmokers, antismoking organizations both here and abroad, and the media to this breach. The result has been hundreds of emails to Marriott from casual guests, and even members of their elite programs, castigating them for this decision, and in most cases telling Marriott that they would not longer patronize its hotels. When ASH learned that R.J. Reynolds, in apparent violation of the Multi-State Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement, had an ad in Rolling Stone magazine which featured cartoon characters, it immediately wrote to all of the attorneys general to complain and to support legal action against the tobacco giant. As a result of the law suits, Reynolds agreed to suspend the ads. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) was the first antismoking organization to widely warn, in very stark terms, that exposure to drifting tobacco smoke for as little as 30 minutes could substantially increase a nonsmokers’ risk of a heart attack virtually to that of a smoker, and could in fact trigger a fatal heart attack, especially in nonsmokers who were already at increase risk. ASH’s message was soon picked up by almost 100 additional antismoking organizations, and became the basis for arguments for smoking bans in dozens if not hundreds of jurisdictions around the country. Indeed, it was so effective that its central conclusion was soon attacked, but ASH in response produced a well researched document with extensive citations which completely rebutted the attack and helped to pave the way for even more bans on smoking in public places, outdoors, and in cars. 2008 ASH issued a press
release and
its SMOKING AND
HEALTH
REVIEW
featured a lengthy piece on the problems of smoking and those with
mental illness – a topic largely ignored by other major antismoking
organizations, even though nearly 70% of people with mental illness
smoke and consume more than 40% of all cigarettes. In part for
this reason, their life expectancy is 25 years shorter than
average. ASH noted that many people who are hospitalized with
mental illness are involuntarily subjected to tobacco smoke, even
though such conduct by medical professionals and health facilities may
constitute medical malpractice and create other legal liabilities for
them. After the issue was first raised by former ASH Trustee Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, an African American and former Secretary of HHS, ASH became the only major antismoking or health organization to widely publicize a flaw – some called it a “racist” loophole – in a pending bill to give the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] jurisdiction over cigarettes. Although the bill generally prohibits the use of flavoring agents in cigarettes like peppermint or cloves, it does not prohibit the use of menthol – precisely the flavoring with the greatest appeal to African Americans, including children and teenagers. ASH’s press releases and other communications about this “racist” loophole were very widely reported in the media including USA Today, the New York Times, Washington Post, and even the Rush Limbaugh Show. Eventually, the bill was not passed. ASH helped break the story that tobacco companies suppressed their own internal research on Polonium-210 – minute amounts of which killed former KGB agent Alexander V. Litvinenko – so as to avoid “waking a sleeping giant” as a secret Philip Morris memo put it. ASH reported that the chemical causes as much radiation exposure as 300 chest x-rays a year, is responsible for 1% of all U.S. lung cancers, and causes more than U.S. 1,600 deaths and over 11,00 deaths worldwide every year. ASH helped expose in the media that a major university was apparently seeking funding for a health program from Philip Morris (now Altria) by claiming that administering nicotine to pregnant women improves the health of their unborn children. The proposal was dropped and funding was never granted after this outrage was exposed. ASH’s Executive Director John Banzhaf was chosen to give a keynote address at the Fifth World Conference on Nonsmokers’ Rights on the many of new developments in the war to protect nonsmokers’ rights which ASH has been able to open up and support. He also was a major organizer of the Conference. With the passage of the first international treaty designed to protect the handicapped – the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities – which uses many of the same words and concepts as the U.S. Americans With Disabilities Act [ADA] which has been widely applied to and used by many people sensitive to tobacco smoke, ASH began extensive legal research to see to what extent the new treaty could likewise be used in other countries to protect smoke-sensitive people. The results will be published during 2009. ASH used the occasion of Paul Newman’s passing to remind Americans that former smokers face a grim death from lung cancer even if they quit smoking early in life. ASH’s message was carried by the media and over the Internet. ASH continued to work with and through the Framework Convention Alliance [FCA] and the world antismoking treaty [Framework Convention of Tobacco Control] to pressure countries which have ratified the treaty to require the use of large graphic pictures and other images of the dangers of smoking on cigarette packs. During 2008 the UK joined Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand in requiring such warnings, which research shows are far more effective than simple textual ones. When Cigna and Aetna health insurance companies both announced that they would ban smoking on their own property, ASH wrote to them asking each to take the logical next step – charging smokers more and nonsmokers less for health insurance. ASH letter pointed out how such plans had been approved by the federal government, were fairer than current plans, and provided enormous benefits in helping to persuade smokers to quit. ASH prepared a detailed set of proposals for change related to smoking and sent them to key members of the Obama transition team, especially those working in areas related to health and to reform of our current health care and health insurance situation. When much-in-the-news Governor Bobby Jindal announced that he wanted to enact “creative medicare reform” for Louisiana, ASH wrote a detailed letter which he should address the issue of smoking in a variety of ways to save the state billions of dollars and millions of lives. A similar letter was then sent to governors and key Medicare officials in the other 49 states. Since ASH began its program of urging states to ban smoking in the cars and homes of foster children, no fewer than 17 states have adopted such requirements for foster children in their state. Thus, near the end of the year, ASH sent a very detailed and recently updated legal petition to the remaining states asking them to do likewise. 2009 ASH filed a citizens’ legal petition with the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] urging the agency to take action concerning the importation and sale of e-cigarettes. This is similar to the citizens’ legal petition ASH filed many years ago which urged the agency to take action regarding a very similar product – Favor imitation cigarettes – which ultimately led to their ban. The FDA is now reportedly restricting the importation of e-cigarettes into the U.S., and is involved in a battle in the courts concerning its jurisdiction over e-cigarettes. ASH filed a motion to intervene in the nature of a brief amicus curiae in response to a complaint filed with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal that there had been discrimination based upon smoking. ASH argued, in opposition to the complaint, that there is no legally protected right to smoke, and that the tribunal has no authority to consider such a complaint. No further action appears to have been taken regarding the complaint. ASH filed a brief amicus curiae before the Quebec Commission on Human Rights opposing a previously-filed complaint against a help-wanted ad by the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health seeking an employee who is not currently a smoker. ASH argued that the complaint was baseless because there was no legally protected right to be a smoker. It appears that no further action was taken regarding this matter. ASH produced a report on four new dangers to nonsmokers. This report included information on the following topics: a “Shocking” Amount of Exposure to Secondhand Tobacco Smoke in “Smokefree” New York City; E-CIGARETTES -- ASH Legal Complaint Hits E-Cigarettes: New Product Poses Dangers For Both Smokers and Nonsmokers; Third Hand Smoke Can Pose Serious Risks for Nonsmokers, Especially the Most Sensitive; and Smokers' Breath Can Be Harmful to Health, Especially to Children, the Elderly, and Those Especially Sensitive to Many Chemicals. ASH researched existing law, and found legal theories – including a potential action under the ADA – which could be filed on behalf of a pregnant office worker who was very sensitive not only to tobacco smoke, but also to tobacco smoke residue. ASH wrote a letter of complaint about her situation which forced her employer to move an office worker who smoked during his breaks to another office. ASH shared this information – about how to file a complaint based upon tobacco smoke residue – with the antismoking community, and helped begin the movement against what is now known as third-hand tobacco smoke. ASH engaged in legal research which indicated that a new world treaty – entitled the “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” – could be helpful in protecting the rights of nonsmokers around the world because it is very similar to our “Americans With Disabilities Act” which ASH used very successfully for that purpose. ASH oversaw the production of four legal documents aimed at helping people in other countries use this new treaty to protect nonsmokers, and made these available to the antismoking community. ASH’s appearance on a nationally broadcast NPR program triggered an announcement by the FDA that e-cigarettes were an “illegal” product; the first time such an announcement had been made. ASH worked with and provided information to a Texas attorney who helped to get a temporary restraining order, and then a permanent injunction, prohibiting a neighbor from smoking in his apartment. The effect of this law suit was to help establish an important precedent – in Texas as well as elsewhere – to help protect nonsmokers from smoking drifting into their homes. ASH wrote to all of the nation’s attorneys general to be sure they were aware of the health and other problems posed by e-cigarettes, and to urge them to take legal action against this new problem. Several attorneys general have now filed law suits aimed at the sale of these products and, in at least one state, the sales seem to have ceased. ASH collected and published the positions of virtually all of the major antismoking organizations on the issue of e-cigarettes so that the public and other antismoking organizations would be aware of their concerns and of their warnings about the dangers of e-cigarettes. This compilation has been used in several legal proceedings. ASH sent a legal letter to Amazon.com warning the company of the potential legal liability and other problems which could result if they continued to sell e-cigarettes – a product which the FDA has declared is “illegal” – including possible tort liability if one of the products allegedly caused a health problem for a user or even a bystander. Shortly thereafter they dropped the product. ASH helped persuade Suffolk County, New York, to ban the use of e-cigarettes wherever the use of conventional cigarettes is already prohibited. ASH went further by publicizing the arguments which helped persuade the legislators, as well as the decision itself, so that it could create a favorable precedent for other jurisdictions. ASH helped to publicize a memo by the Department of Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] in which it "strongly encouraged" all public housing authorities to ban smoking in their individual housing units, citing the deadly health hazards, the increased risk of fires and fire deaths, and the added cost to fumigate a unit formerly occupied by a smoker. ASH added additional information and support to the memo to benefit other antismoking activists. ASH’s taped appearance for an NBC-TV Evening News broadcast, in which it blasted the FDA for its inaction on e-cigarettes, was the catalyst which caused the FDA to suddenly report that it found in samples of e-cigarettes a variety of "toxic and carcinogenic chemicals" including diethylene glycol, "an ingredient used in antifreeze, [which] is toxic to humans"; "certain tobacco-specific nitrosamines which are human carcinogens"; and that "tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans - anabasine, myosmine, and B-nicotyrine - were detected in a majority of the samples tested." To deal with a growing topic of interest to ASH members, regulators, Members of Congress, and others, ASH produced a report showing why it is lawful – under two different federal rulings which ASH obtained – for health insurance companies to charge nonsmokers less than smokers for health insurance. When an e-cigarette company sent a letter to a major Qatar newspaper claiming that its article pointing out some of the dangers of e-cigarettes reported by the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] "could lead to the deaths of smokers and electronic cigarette users” and demanding a retraction, ASH responded. ASH’s letter pointed out the possible bias of the letter writer, why the claim was an exaggeration, and new dangers about e-cigarettes, including that they “are potentially lethal to children." The newspaper did not retract the story, and in nearby Dubai, the importation of e-cigarettes is being blocked because of their potential dangers ASH sent a legal letter to PayPal.com warning the company of the potential legal liability and other problems which could result if they continued to sell e-cigarettes – a product which the FDA has declared is “illegal” – including possible tort liability if one of the products allegedly caused a health problem for a user or even a bystander. Shortly thereafter they stopped facilitating the sale of e-cigarettes. ASH’s widespread warning – based upon published medical article by the CDC and other entities and researchers – that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke for as little as 30 minutes can trigger a heart attack, and that even such a brief exposure can increase a nonsmokers’ risk of a heart attack virtually to that of a smoker, was widely adopted by dozens of other health organizations. ASH revised and updated its report to include additional research. ASH prepared and obtained wide distribution of calculations showing that John McCain’s status as a former smoker very dramatically increased the chances that, should he be elected President, the chances that his Vice President would have to take over were considerable. The calculations also showed the corresponding risk for Barack Obama who is a current smoker. Neither ASH nor any of its staff ever takes any position or voices any support regarding any candidate for public office. ASH helped persuade the city of Belmont, California to ban smoking in private apartments; a move which follows ASH’s earlier successes in persuading other California jurisdictions to restrict or ban smoking in apartments or in outdoor areas. A 50% [61 cent] cigarette tax increase which ASH promoted was passed by Congress. ASH had sent letters to each member of the Senate summarizing arguments in favor of such an increase, including historical benchmarks and generally accepted world norms, the enormous benefits of such an increase, and a refutation of the tobacco industry’s arguments against the increase. For example, ASH noted that raising the federal cigarette tax to only $1/pack would save 900,000 lives annually, bring in almost $10 billion in increased revenue, decrease smoking by kids by almost 10%, help persuade over 1 million current smokers to quit, and save about $1 billion in 5-year health-care savings alone. A RICO prosecution brought by the Department of Justice against the major tobacco companies was upheld on appeal. ASH helped to start the legal action by generating a memo suggesting legal theories which was sent to Senator Dick Durbin. The result of this latest court decisions was to uphold the largest fraud, deception, RICO suit ever; one which involved a 50 year conspiracy, as well as one imposing numerous legal restrictions designed to protect children from becoming smokers. When the FDA’s jurisdiction over e-cigarettes was attacked by an e-cigarette company in U.S. District Court, ASH was the only organization to enter the proceeding on behalf of the agency, filing no fewer than four different pleadings. The result, however, was a decision by the lower court judge which enjoined the FDA from stopping imports of e-cigarettes. Fortunately, that injunction has now been stayed by a unanimous decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals. ASH helped persuade the state of New Jersey to follow the lead of Suffolk County, New York, in banning the use of e-cigarettes wherever the use of conventional cigarettes is already prohibited. ASH went further by publicizing the arguments which helped persuade the legislators as well as the decision itself so that it could create a second favorable precedent for other jurisdictions. Virginia also has a similar ban, although it was done by executive rather than legislative action. When the U.S. Congress began moving forward with regard to health care reform, ASH formulated a proposal to permit higher premiums for smokers as a way to force them to pay more of their fair share and to lower the costs passed on to nonsmokers. ASH’s proposal to impose personal responsibility on smokers was featured in and debated on a variety of national television programs [e.g., on Fox News, MSNBC, etc.] as well as in articles and on the Internet. ASH also sent dozens of emails in support of the proposal to Members of Congress, and issued numerous press releases explaining why it was fair to charge smokers more for health insurance. |
Action on Smoking and Health
(ASH)
701 4th St. NW / Washington, DC
20001 / (202) 659-4310
A national nonprofit, scientific and educational organization founded
in 1967.
All donations are fully tax deductible.