Tarred on All Sides

When someone offers a cigarette to pipe-puffing Surgeon General Luther Terry, he always grabs it. "Every one I accept I tear up," he says. "That way there's one less cigarette."

As a result of last month's report from Terry on the hazards of cigarette smoking, tobaccomen are being tarred on all sides. In the U.S. Senate last week, Wisconsin Democrat Gaylord Nelson proposed a way to raise $1 billion a year for the Government: increase the federal cigarette tax from 80 to 130 a pack. The Defense Department prohibited the cigarette companies from handing out free packs in military hospitals and clinics, and announced plans for an antismoking publicity campaign aimed at servicemen.

The Public Health Service said that it will open a drive to discourage youngsters from smoking, and the National Association of Broadcasters condemned cigarette commercials pitched at adolescents. "To avoid the appearance of appealing to young people," the American Tobacco Co. (Lucky Strike, Pall Mall) announced that it will cancel its estimated $5-million-a-year sponsorship of sports events on television and radio when current contracts run out.

In a national ad, State Mutual of America said: "We feel that it is part of our business to point out the risk you take when you smoke." And, as many cigarette smokers switched to other forms of tobacco, several airlines lifted their 32-year-old rule against in-flight smoking of cigars and pipes.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.