AMA Told It Should Lead Fight to End Smoking by 2000
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CHICAGO — The American Medical Assn. should take the lead to snuff out cigarette smoking by the year 2000, the group’s policy-making House of Delegates decided last week.
Dr. Ed. L. Calhoon, a delegate from Beaver, Okla., introduced the resolution to become more active in the nonsmoking fight.
Calhoon said a strong anti-smoking position was necessary because some AMA members and the public perceived the medical group as “a bit negligent in trying . . . to speak to this issue.”
Smoking causes up to 350,000 deaths annually in the United States, said Calhoon, also a member of the advisory board of the National Cancer Institute.
The AMA House of Delegates also agreed that it should respond “in a timely fashion” to national advertising campaigns that discount the scientifically determined effects of tobacco.
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