TOBACCO: The Filter War

"The enormous weight of statistical evidence linking lung cancer with heavy smoking can no longer be refuted. A majority of manufacturers either oppose or ignore the problem." These words were spoken last week, not by a scientist or antismoking crusader, but by Patrick O'Neil-Dunne, 50, technical director of Rothmans of Pall Mall, British cigarette maker. A Rothmans press release was even stronger: "The link has been established beyond all reasonable doubt."

Rothmans was so bluntly frank because it is trying to plug its own filter brand (called Rothmans) at the expense of the industry. The company is struggling to win a major market in Canada, and Supersalesman O'Neil-Dunne, speaking in Toronto, claimed that Rothmans' king-size filter brand yielded 14.4% to 38.7% less tars than the four other bestselling Canadian filters. Furthermore, "an increasing section of scientific opinion believes that if the tar intake from a single cigarette were reduced to 18 milligrams,† there would be a significant reduction in the risk of lung cancer."

U.S. tobacco men were burned up. Huffed the Tobacco Industry Research Committee: "The position of this country's cigarette industry is unchanged. Scientific evidence simply does not support the theory that there is anything in cigarette smoke known to cause human lung cancer." Added one insider: "O'Neil-Dunne is like the kid in the gang who punks out."