Medicine: Out with the Weed

Among almost 100 pages of advertising in last week’s A.M.A. Journal, only 1½ pages were cigarette puffs. And in these, advertisers made no medical claims—merely said that their brands were low in nicotine or equipped with good filters. But in future, even such mild statements will be barred from the Journal and eleven other A.M.A. publications.

After Jan. 1, the A.M.A. has decided, it will take no advertising for cigarettes or other tobacco products and smokers’ aids such as filters. (At the same time it will drop ads for alcoholic drinks.) The main reason: members do not feel that the A.M.A. should take business from manufacturers who in the lay press cram their ads with medical claims. Also, there is the matter of the extent to which heavy and long-continued cigarette smoking can cause lung cancer. Cost to the A.M.A. in lost revenue: about $115,000 a year.