...ON PM'S ETS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES IN EUROPE (1988)

1. Objectives

The objective of the PM EEC/EEMA ETS Project is to prevent theimposition of smoking restrictions in the EEC/EEMA regions based on theasserted health hazards of ETS to non-smokers. To realize thisobjective, three audiences must be persuaded that the health claims byanti-smoking forces concerning ETS are groundless. Those threeaudiences are the scientific community, regulatory authorities, and thegeneral public.

In the short term, the argument against smoking restrictions must bebased on the weakness of the scientific case made by the anti-smokingforces. For this purpose, scientists must be available who can attackthe studies relied on by the anti-smoking forces to justify smokingrestrictions on health grounds. Scientists and engineers also must beavailable who can demonstrate that any irritation to non-smokers fromETS can and should be mitigated through improvements inventilation/filtration systems in offices and other indoorenvironments. Solving the ETS "problem" should be made part of solvingthe more general indoor air quality problem.

In the longer term, it will not suffice to base the argument againstsmoking restrictions on the weakness of the case made by theanti-smoking forces. As long as anti-smoking forces can maintain asuspicion of risk, regulatory authories and the general public arelikely to choose to err on the side of caution and support smokingrestrictions. The argument against smoking restrictions based on theexistence of "controversy" on the ETS health issue also is unlikely toprove persuasive because it is so reminiscent of the industry's argumenton the primary health issue, which virtually no-one outside of theindustry accepts. Thus, the industry will have to establishaffirmatively that ETS presents no significant health risk tonon-smokers.

The industry can accomplish this long-term goal only by sponsoring abasic research programme that takes into account the gaps in existingscientific knowledge and the requirements of particular markets, and bydisseminating the knowledge generated by this research programme to thethree audiences mentioned above. It can accomplish the more immediategoal of defeating smoking restrictions as such restrictions are proposedin particular markets only by mobilizing in each market a corps ofscientific consultants and engineers who can make the scientific caseagainst smoking restrictions through articles in scientific journals andpresentations at scientific conferences and symposia, through articlesand interviews in the mass media, and through meetings with andappearances before regulatory authorities.