sample="rhetorical" bates="2501453486" isource="pm" decade="1990" class="ue" date="19900625" PHILIP MORRIS EEC REGION BRILLANCOURT 4 CASE POSTALE · CH-1001 LAUSANNE · SWITZERLAND · TELEPHONE (021) 618 61 11 · CABLE: SWIPOLD LAUSANNE · TELEX: 912 214 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mr. Steven Parrish Dr. Thomas Borelli N.Y., USA (212) 880.5000 Dr. Helmut Gaisch (Switzerland) (038) 32.11.11 PHILIP MORRIS LABELS EPA PRELIMINARY DRAFT REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO SMOKE "PRODUCT OF SOCIAL ACTIVISTS" WASHINGTON, D.C., June 25 - A Philip Morris spokesperson described a preliminary draft report on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) released today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as "the product of social activists, not scientists" . Steven C. Parrish, Vice President of Corporate Scientific Affairs for Philip Morris, said the draft consultant's report falls far short of accepted standards for critical scientific analysis. "We believe that the EPA's Science Advisory Board and other independent scientists will be struck by the report's omissions and shortcomings." Parrish said. "It is a measure of the motivations of some within the EPA that they would issue a policy guide making recommendations based on the draft report, when the draft has not even been through the EPA's own established review process," Parrish said. "The EPA may have overstepped its authority by issuing such guidelines in any event," he said. "The draft omits serious considerations of major studies that don't agree with the views of certain individual activists in the EPA," Parrish said. "In particular, the claims of lung cancer deaths are simply not supported by even the selective evidence quoted in the draft risk assessment," Parrish said, noting that 18 of the 23 studies cited show no statistically significant increased risk. The draft report also omits findings from the largest study ever done on ETS. That study, conducted by a physician at Yale University and funded by the Kellogg Foundation, found no statistically significant increased risk of lung cancer from ETS for exposure in the workplace, in social settings or from spousal smoking. Parrish said the report virtually dismisses other studies that fail to find statistically significant increased risks, such as a 1981 American Cancer Society study. Another study, one on ETS and radon originally scheduled to be part of the assessment, does not appear in the EPA draft. "Not surprisingly," Parrish said, "that study found that ETS does not enhance the harmful effects of radon". "We believe that when the Science Advisory Board and the EPA Administrator look at these documents, they will conclude, as we do, that it has not been shown that environmental tobacco smoke causes diseases in non-smokers," Parrish said. Coincidentally, in June 1987, the EPA severely restricted smoking at their Washington DC offices in an attempt to reduce high employee absenteeism and complaints. To EPA's surprise, employee problems due to poor indoor air quality persisted after the smoking restrictions were implemented. Further investigation revealed that the building was contaminated with the Legionella bacteria, fungi, and a toxic chemical called 4-phenylcyclohexene (CP-4). According to several of the building's 5,000 employees, working in the building can cause physical illness after just a few hours.