Peter Jennings, Anti-Smokers' Whore

If this anti-smokers' whore had exposed the anti-smokers' deliberate suppression and destruction of research on the role of infection in lung cancer, the stupid bastard might be alive today and we would all be better off. He and his cronies are are given their jobs because the unscrupulous scum who run Capitol Cities / ABC want it that way.

The only tragedy is that this louse didn't die by our hands.

(ABC tobacco war is legacy of Jennings. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter Oct. 28, 2005.) "We have learned first-hand the dangers of smoking and the tragedy of lung cancer," said Jon Banner, "World News Tonight" executive producer. "Peter really was at the forefront of reporting on the dangers of smoking and the tobacco industry throughout his career."

In addition to his "World News Tonight" coverage on tobacco industry, Jennings did at least two documentaries on the topic: 1996's "Never Say Die: How the Tobacco Companies Keep on Winning" and 2004's "From the Tobacco Files," from Jennings' PJ Productions.

"World News Tonight" will report on smoking cessation programs, tips on how to quit smoking (and why it might be harder than commonly believed), public policy issues andoptions for the treatment and prevention of lung cancer. ABC News has followed four smokers trying to quit, and their efforts will be chronicled on "World News Tonight" as well as via video blog on http://www.ABCNEWS.com. The series kicks off with an opening piece Tuesday with Dr. Tim Johnson, ABC News' medical correspondent who helped Jennings in his final months. "Good Morning America" and ABC News Radio are also involved.

ABC News is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute and the North American Quitline Consortium. Television and online links will send viewers to either the national quitline (1-800-QUITNOW) or their local lines where there will be trained counselors helping people quit smoking, said Tamatha Thomas-Haase, a consultant with the quitline consortium based in Phoenix, Ariz. There have been more than 140,000 calls to the national quitline since it started last November and they're expecting more to the national and state lines with the ABC initiative."

Columbia University hits up the tobacco industry, 1967

Inventor Robert Strickman assigned the rights to a filter he invented to Columbia University, which hoped to get 10 cents a carton, or $750 million to a billion dollars over the next five years out of it. ABC News made a big production to shill for them, and spout hysterical bilge about "death-dealing danger of cigarettes." Someone identified as "SCIENTIST" said that he thought it was possible to use filters to make safer cigarettes. (Peter Jennings, ABC News, Aug. 23, 1967.)

Jennings lies that "men are living longer" than women because of smoking, 1990

(THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE PROGRAM ABC World News Tonight on WJLA-TV, Washington, D.C. [ABC Network]. April 10, 1990, 6:30 P.M. State of California Launches Anti-Smoking Campaign.) PETER JENNINGS: We begin tonight with a pioneering effort against smoking and further proof that smoking is dangerous. Today the Census Bureau reports that for the first time since the beginning of the century, men are living longer, than women, more men are living longer than more women. And the number of women is increasing [sic] because the Bureau points out that more men have quit smoking and more women have begun. Today, coincidentally, Oalifornia became the first state to launch a massive advertising campaign to convince those who smoke and those who could start that smoking is a dirty and dangerous habit. Here's ABC's Brian Rooney. BRIAN ROONEY: The State of California hopes its new anti-smoking advertisements will counter the advertising of the cigarette cdmpanies. California is spending nearly $30 million on ads like this. MAN: That means that this business needs 3000 fresh new voiunteers every day. So, forget about [unintelIigible] cancer, heart disease, emphysema, stroke stuff. Gentlemen, we're not in this business for our heaith. [Laughter] DR. KENNETH KIZER [Director, California Health Department]: We want people to see what tobacco use really is. It's dumb, it's dirty, and it's deadly. ROONEY: The state will focus its campaign particularly on young people, women and minorities, who smoke more and have a higher rate of smoke-related illness and death than the rest of the population. The industry markets heavily in minority areas. DR. KIZER: Frankly, the tobacco industry's predatory exploitation of minorities is a national disgrace. ROONEY: The tobacco industry says the new campaign is unfair. BRENNAN DAWSON: But I think that there needs to be some serious debate over whether or not this is anti-smoking material, or whether it's a punitive mudslinging attack on the tobacco industry. ROONEY: The makers of these advertisements don't deny they are attacking the entire industry. In fact, that's their point: that the tobacco industry won't say it sells an unhealthy product. With money raised by its new cigarette tax, California plans to spend a total of $221 million on research, education, and health care for people with diseases created by smoking. It's a multi-front attack that will last at least 15 months. The goal: 75 percent fewer smokers in California by the year 2000. Brian Rooney, ABC News, Los Angeles."

Jennings' lie that men are living longer than women has never even been close to the truth. (National Vital Statistics Reports. Nov. 10;53(6).United States Life Tables, 2002. By Elizabeth Arias, Ph.D.)

Anti-smokers patronize blacks and women, 1990

ABC World News Tonight, Jan. 18, 1990 6:30-7:00 pm, Peter Jennings, anchor: Any tobacco company doing anything these days to win new customers knows that it will come under fire. It's a cost of.doing business. Today in Philadelphia, the secretary of Health and Human Housing-Health and Human Services, rather, Louis Sullivan, condemned the R JR Reynolds Company because it is going to test market a new cigarette aimed primarily at blacks. Here's ABC's Kathleen Delaski. Kathleen Delaski reporting: Uptown is the first brand targeted specifically at blacks. The cigarettes are menthol and they are packed with the filters facing down. Market research shows that many blacks prefer it that way. Today Dr. Sullivan joined thirty community groups in attacking RJ Reynolds for introducing the brand. Dr. Louis Sullivan (Secretary, Health & Human Services): At a time when our people desperately need the message of health promotion, Uptown's message is more disease. Delaski: In a written statement, RJ Reynolds responded: We believe that black consumers have a right to buy products no matter what the product that fit their preferences. Tobacco companies are going after blacks and also women because the traditional smokers, white men, are quitting at faster rates. Like black groups, many women's organizations are angry at being targeted. Five new brands for women have been introduced in the past year alone. But tobacco companies say there is nothing wrong with marketing to women. Ellen Merle (Vice President, Philip Morris): I believe that smoking is an adult choice, and I think that women are every bit as capable as men to make that choice. Delaski: But most new smokers are not adults; they are teen-age girls. Two thousand young girls start smoking every day; half by age thirteen. To combat the new ad campaigns, a new coalition of thirty women's groups is promoting counter ads and an education drive especially aimed at potential smokers. Dr. Sally Faith Dorfman (Orange County Health Commissioner): People may be trying to tell the girls particularly that smoking is the way to stay slender and attractive. They are not your friends. Delaski: Anti-smoking groups say the new brands for blacks and women have given them new momentum to take on the tobacco companies. But it is not clear yet which campaign smokers will respond to, the new cigarette ads for the new warnings. Kathleen Delaski, ABC News, Washington.

ABC World News Tonight, Jan. 18, 1990 / tobacco document

Jennings lies that the EPA says ETS kills 3800 nonsmokers, 1990

(EPA Concludes Secondhand Smoke Causes Cancer. ABC World News Tonight. Station WJLA-TV, Washington DC, ABC Network, May 9, 1990 6:30 P.M.) PETER JENNINGS: It looks like the Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up for another damning report on smoking. A preliminary version has this to say to nonsmokers: Just being exposed to other smokers can kill you. Here's ABC's Bettina Gregory. BETTINA GREGORY: The EPA has concluded that inhaling someone else's cigarette smoke causes 3800 Americans to die of lung cancer each year. And the draft report on passive smoking proposes that tobacco smoke be labeled a carcinogen. That could lead to more severe restrictions on where people can smoke. Anti-smoking advocates say it's about time the EPA declared tobacco smoke the most hazardous pollutant in the air. JOHN BANZHAF [Action on Smoking and Health]: Going in a room where anybody is smoking is more dangerous than going in a room with asbestos, going in a room with radon or any other air pollutant. GREGORY: The tobacco industry does not acknowledge that cigarethe smoking causes cancer,.much less passive smoking. WALKER MERRYMAN [The Tobacco Institute]: Well, there really isn't a scientific consensus on whether or not passive smoking is in fact harmful to those who don't smoke.

Those lying maggots have systematically covered up the fact that the EPA's own scientists, the real scientists who got their jobs on merit instead of political connections, were against labelling secondhand smoke a carcinogen!

Anti-smoker vermin rant about make-believe Joe Camel, while their ilk pass lies off as truth

This is what we get for news, while the VERMIN commit scientific fraud with impunity.

ABC World News Tonight WJLA TV ABC Network, Washington DC, Dec. 10, 1991 6:30 PM. JAMA Study On Teens And Smoking. PETER JENNINGS: Finally this evening, on the American Agenda, what it is that encourages children to smoke when they should know better. The anti-smoking message is. getting through to mllllons of adults, but despite all the warnings more children who smoke are starting at a younger age. Today, in the Journal of the American Medical Associatlon, two studies which appear to show a relationshlp between teenagers who go on smoking and a particular advertising campaign. Our Agenda reporter is Beth Nissen. BETH NISSEN: He is on billboards, street signs, buses. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The camel, he' s in every magazine I've ever read. NISSEN: Kids see him magazine spreads, and a full line of promotional products -- T-shirts, hats, lighters, drink coolers. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: He's cool. He'd be someone I'd like to hang out with. NISSEN: He water skis, drives motorcycles, flies planes. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: He's cool, smooth, he's rich, and he's on -- he's very famous. NISSEN: Smooth Joe Camel is one one most promoted images in modern advertising history. Since the campaign that features him was created four years ago it has stopped the decline of a brand that has been rolling off assembly lines since 1913, and started a bitter controversy over whether the cartoon that replaced the old camel is selling cigarettes to children. MARK GREEN (NY Consumer Affairs Commission): The tobacco industry knows that hundreds of thousands of their own customers a year are dying off because of their product. Who are the replacement customers? Kids. [You filthy little smearing maggot, most oldsters simply quit smoking long before they die. And attrition by death occurs UNIVERSALLY, you slimy piece of crud who treats us like morons! -cast] NISSEN: The makers of Camel cigarettes say Smooth Joe is just as appealing to grownups. TOM GRISCOM (RJ Reynolds): Our market is not kids. Our market is trying to reach 35 million smokers who smoke another brand. NISSEN: There has been no compelling evidence that Smooth Joe clearly appeals to the underaged until today, with two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In the first study groups of high school students and adults were asked to rate their attraction so the Smooth Joe ads. The results? The researcher who did the study says if the makers of Camel are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to reach adults, they are wasting their money. DR. JOE DIFRANZA (Univ of Mass Medical School ): The kids love him; the adults didn't. We found that Camels are ten times more popular among kids than they are among adults over the age of 21. NISSEN: And something about the ads appeals to even the very young. In the second study children three to six years old were to match a company logo with a product. MAN: Have you seen that before? What does that match with? Very good. NISSEN: One third of three year olds matched Smooth Joe with a picture of a cigarette. WOMAN: How do you know that he goes with that? LITTLE GIRL: He smokes. WOMAN: He smokes. How old are you? LITTLE GIRL: Three. NISSEN: By age six, as many knew the camel as knew Mickey Mouse. DR. RICK RICHARDS (Medical College of Georgia): The fact is they're influencing three to six year olds whether they intended to or not, and it should stop. MAN: Have you seen that before? [Clip of child nodding yes] NISSEN: No one knows if children who like Smooth Joe will become Camel smokers. RJ Reynolds says it spends millions to make sure kids do not smoke Camels or any other brand of cigarettes. The company has designed an ad campaign that urges kids to resist peer pressure. Why would a cigarette company discourage the next generation of customers? [Because they don't have the sense not to pander to subhuman vermin like YOU. -cast] GRISCOM: We do not want them to smoke because it can bring restrictions on us that prevent us from being able to market and sell products to adults who choose to smoke. NISSEN: Restrictions are exactly what public health advocates want from the Federal Trade Commission, which has exclusive jurisdiction over tobacco advertising. The FTC has not responded to a series of requests that it ban the Camel ads and promotions as an unfair trade practice. GREEN: I think the FTC should have taken action by now. Tobacco is uniquely our most dangerous product and kids are our most vulnerable consumers. And cartoon figures appeal to them. NISSEN: The FTC will only say it will review the studies released today, review the newest evidence that harmful messages are filtering through to the nation's children. Beth Nissen, ABC News, New York.

Jennings nurtures the Big Lie that smoking costs society money, 1993

ABC News Show: World News Tonight With Peter Jennings. Feb. 25, 1993. ANNOUNCER: From ABC, this is World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. PETER JENNINGS: President Clinton was talking again today about the need for a national health care plan. and this time he gave a strong public hint that some of the money needed to pay for it may be raised from those people who ignore the risks or smoking and drinking. Here's ABC's Brit Hume. BRIT HUME: [CLINTON PC] Appearing with business and labor leaders who are backing his economic plan. the President was asked how. he'll pay for his next big plan, to overhaul health.care and make it available to all. Specifically, would he be asking for more new taxes'? PRESIDENT CLINTON: There are lots of options we are looking at now which wouldn't necessarily increase middle.class tax burdens. BRIT HUME: [MEDIA] Well, he was asked, does that mean he's now ruling out increasing so-called sin taxes on such things as beer, wine and tobacco? [BUSINESS. & LABOR LEADERS] Those taxes hit all groups, including the middle class,but Mr. Clinton did not rule them out. PRESIDENT CLINTON: I think health related taxes are different. I think cigarette taxes, for example, are different. BRIT HUME: And why is that. he was asked. PRESIDENT CLINTON: Because I think that we are spending a ton of money in private insurance and in government tax payments to deal with the kealth care problems occasioned by bad health habits, and particularly smoking. BRIT HUME: [SU] The President has a thorny practical and political problem. He believes health care reform will save the government billions and free up billions more in the private sector, but he's also: pledged to extend health insurance to all. which will cost billions. That's why he can't rule out additional taxes on the middle class or anyone else. Brit Hume, ABC News, the White House.

Jennings lies that 3,000 "children" [who are actually 18-21] take up smoking every year

ABC News Show: World News Tonight With Peter Jennings, Mar. 17, 1993. PETER JENNINGS: More news about the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry. is under assault on any number of fronts these days. The possibility of higher taxes on cigarettes to pay for health care is one example. How tobacco companies advertise their product is another. A new series of ad campaigns has drawn particular attention on Capitol Hill. Here's ABC's Bill Greenwood. BILL GREENWOOD: [KIDS SMOKING] Federal health officials say 3,000 American youngsters start smoking every day, and critics say many are being hooked by the new ad campaigns. [ADS] The tobacco companies offer free prizes to people who mail in proofs of purchase, like the label on a cigarette pack. [HARKIN PC] An aide to Iowa's Senator Tom Harkin modeled beachwear awarded by Camel. SENATOR TOM HARKIN! How many cigarettes does it take to get this whole outfit? AIDE: Several thousand. SENATOR TOM HARKIN: Yeah. Several thousand. For several thousand cigarettes you can be dressed just like this and go to the beach and leave Camel tracks all over. BILL GREENWOOD: Such promotions are part of a four billion dollar a year advertising campaign that is tax deductible. [CU CIGARETTE] All companies can take a deduction for advertising, but senators today introduced legislation to reduce the tax break for tobacco companies by 50 percent, because their product is hazardous. The American Civil Liberties Union promised to fight the effort. ROBERT PECK /ACLU LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL: The ACLU opposes this proposal, because we believe that this is an infringementof the First Amendment. BILL GREENWOOD: [SU] Senators agree that cigarette companies have a right to free speech, but New Jersey's Bill Bradley says that does not give the tobacco industry a constitutional right to tax subsidies for pushing products that endanger people's health. Bill Greenwood, ABC News, Capitol Hill.

Serial Lies and Hate Propaganda, 1993

Filthy whore spreads the Big Lies about smoking costs, the scientific fraud of "smoking related deaths," and gives anti-smokers a pass on suppressing research on the role of infection in emphysema.

(ABC News Show: World News Tonight With Peter Jennings, May 13, 1993. ABC Transcript.) "... PETER JENNINGS: There is another view of a cigarette tax. First of all, it is designed to do more than pay for health care reform. The idea is also to save health care dollars by discouraging people from smoking. And smoking costs the rest of us a lot of money. We asked ABC's Beth Nissen how much. BETH NISSEN: Christian Frye smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for 48 years. She has chronic emphysema. She wants cigarettes taxed, even banned, and has no sympathy for what that might do to tobacco farmers. CHRISTIAN FRYE: They should not grow tobacco to kill people just for money. BETH NISSEN: In terms of money, tobacco -related illnesses run up health care costs of $21 billion a year. NURSE: How are you feeling? CHRISTIAN FRYE: Short of breath. " BETH NISSEN: This year alone Christian's hospital bills total almost half a million dollars. According to the government's Office of Technology Assessment, smoking related cancers, lung and heart diseases cost American businesses an additional $47 billion a year in lost worker productivity and lost workers. Smoking kills 475,000 Americans a year. DR. JOHN LYNCH / AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of premature death in this country. BETH NISSEN: And Americans pay to prevent more deaths. This public service ad is part of a $135 million federal anti-smoking campaign. Yet what most Americans do not know is that they also pay for the ads that promote smoking. One billion dollars a year in cigarette advertising is tax deductible. SEN. TOM HARKIN / [D] IOWA: We subsidize the advertising of tobacco, a product that kills people. BETH NISSEN: A $2-a-pack cigarette tax would bring in as much as $100 billion in five years and save hundreds of billions more in future costs. In states that have raised taxes, which raises the price per pack, tobacco use has fallen, especially among the young. Public health officials say the ultimate saving could be as many as two million lives and incalculable suffering. Beth Nissen, ABC News, Washington. PETER JENNINGS: One other item about smoking and health. A judge in Mississippi has ruled for the first time that cigarettes are so dangerous that manufacturers cannot escape liability even if smokers know the risks. As the ruling comes from a state judge, however, other courts around the country are not obliged to follow suit.

Jennings continues to conceal EPA corruption, and promotes health lies based on it

ABC News Show: World News Tonight With Peter Jennings. Jun. 22, 1993. ANNOUNCER: From ABC, this is World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, reporting tonight from Washington. PETER JENNINGS: Our second story is also from Washington. The tobacco industry is on the counterattack here. Six months after the Environmental Protection Agency issued; a devastating report on secondhand smoke - just breathing in someone else's smoke, said the EPA, causes thousands of cases of lung cancer in nonsmokers every year - the tobacco industry has gone to court. As ABC's Bettina Gregory reports, a coalition of tobacco farmers and cigarette makers claim that the EPA report is based on faulty science and should be ignored. HOSTESS: Smoking or nonsmoking? CUSTOMER: Nonsmoking. BETTINA GREGORY: The trend toward bans on. smoking has been accelerating ever since January when former EPA administrator William Reilly declared secondhand smoke a human carcinogen. Smoking has been banned in the state capital of California and at some universities, restaurants, and airports. Today the tobacco industry fought back. It sued the EPA, claiming the government ignored scientific evidence and manipulated data to conclude environmental tobacco smoke, known as ETS, causes cancer. STEVE PARRISH, PHILIP MORRIS, USA: For this substance the science does not support the claim that environmental tobacco smoke is harmful to nonsmokers. BETTINA GREGORY: The industry claims the EPA did not consider two major 1992 studies which showed nonsmoking spouses of smokers did not increase their risk of lung cancer. Despite those studies, the current EPA administrator agrees with her predecessor that secondhand smoke is dangerous. CAROL BROWNER, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, it's the agency's view that secondhand smoke can cause health problems. The agency undertook a study. We stand by that st:udy. BETI'INA GREGORY: The EPA says secondhand smoke causes 3,000 cases of lung cancer in nonsmokers every year. Nevertheless, the tobacco industry claims the EPA's position on secondhand smoke is based on politics, not science. [SU] But sources at the EPA say the tobacco industry's lawsuit is a tactic to stop domestic cigarette sales from declining as smoking is banned in more and more places. BettinaGregory, ABC News, Washington.

"News" programs are mere pretexts to spew crap and abuse at smokers

ABC News Show: World News Tonight With Peter Jennings, Sep. 21,1993. PETER JENNINGS. Still on the subject of where the money will come from, the President says that $105 billion, as Brit reported, will be raised through what everyone calls "sin taxes," which in the case of health care leads right to cigarettes. Much of the public appears to think that cigarette smokers should really be pressured. But the guessing is that 75 cents more a pack is all that they'll have to pay. Here's ABC's Jim Angle. JIM ANGLE: When California raised its cigarette tax by 25 cents a pack back in 1989, it dedicated 20 percent of the revenues to an anti- tobacco campaign. ACTOR: [Public Awareness Commercial] Here's a picture of Lisa before she started smoking. Here she is now. JIM ANGLE: Over three and a half years, public-awareness programs helped cut cigarette consumption by 8.5 percent. Though California wanted new revenues, it also wanted to discourage smoking. Now Massachusetts is following suit. It will spend $52 million - a fourth of its recent tax increase - for anti-smoking programs. Such efforts are important because a tax increase alone isn't enough to reduce smoking. DR. GREGORY CONNOLLY, MASSACHUSE'IT'S DEPT: OF PUBLIC HEALTH: You get an, initial drop in consumption from the tax increase, but that you lose over time unless you come back in with a hard-hitting campaign. JIM ANGLE: Such as this one in California. While some smokers quit, when taxes go up, others.need more persuasion. ANTI-SMOKING ADVOCATE: Cigarette smoking is as bad as crack. JIM ANGLE: But redemption isn't the goal of the administration; it's more interested in revenue and in, getting the support of tobacco -state lawmakers. The White House isn't setting aside a single penny from the new tax for anti-smoking efforts. Health.advocates say that's a mistake. STANTON GLANTZ, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN FRANCISCO: They would be absolute idiots to not include a reasonable tobacco -control campaign as a component of their overall health care proposal. JIM ANGLE: But for now the administration is only after the tax money, passing up the chance to actively discourage smoking and save tens:of billions in future medical costs. Jim Angle, ABC News, Washington.

Jennings hypes the scientific fraud of McGinnis & Foege, JAMA 1993

The lying vermin don't even identify the authors of the study, McGinnis & Foege, and unquestioningly embrace its fraudulent methodology of deliberately exploiting confounding by infection as a revelation of true underlying causes of death. We are expected to unquestioningly believe in corrupt "authorities" - whereupon they immediately launch into smug gloating over their ill-gotten victories.

ABC World News Tonight 6:30 pm ET November 10, 1993 Transcript # 3224-8. HEADLINE: North Carolina and Anti-Smoking Laws. BODY: PETER JENNINGS: We've another medical report tonight on the dangers of smoking. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says that in 1990, tobacco was the biggest underlying cause of death in the United States, responsible for 400,000 deaths. By underlying, they mean going beyond the immediate illnesses such as cancer or heart disease to find out why people became sick in the first place. Tobacco, said the researchers, caused more deaths than drugs, guns, risky sex and auto accidents combined. Well, there does seem to be a growing public acceptance of the fact that smoking is deadly. The sentiment, however, is only beginning to catch on in tobacco country itself. ABC's Al Dale is in North Carolina. AL DALE, ABC News: [voice-over] In much of North Carolina, smoking is not just tolerated, it is appreciated - 400,000 jobs depend on tobacco, the state's number one cash crop. And efforts to restrict smoking often meet with undisguised hostility. Ist NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: Tobacco pays my bills I would not go to a restaurant that you could not smoke at. AL DALE: I look around, I don't see a 'No Smoking' section. 2nd NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: We have one. It's outside. AL DALE: [voice-over] But in the past few months, things have begun to change. More than half of the state's 100 counties have adopted some form of smoking restrictions, forcing people outside to indulge their habit. The flurry of regulations resulted from a new state law. [on camera] This summer, the state legislature passed a relatively mild smoking law that in effect guaranteed smokers at least 20 percent of the space in all public buildings. But the state left the door open for local governments to go further in protecting non- smokers from secondhand smoke. [voice-over] In Greensboro, where the Lorillard Tobacco Company's a major employer, the county health department adopted rules that will ban smoking in public places by the end of next year. That outraged many people, including county commissioners, who say they will replace anti-smoking members of the health board. JOE WOOD, County Commissioner: The health board failed to look at this from an economic standpoint, as well as a public health standpoint. AL DALE: [voice-over] So it's likely that the regulations will be rescinded before going into effect. That would please a lot of people here who say smoking is not harmful. RADIO CALLER: I don't believe the secondhand smoke stuff. BRAD KRANTZ, Talk Show Host: You Welcome to North Carolina, where opinion. don't believe it? Welcome to North Carolina. lung cancer is not a medical fact, it's an AL DALE: [voice-over] But all across the state, even diehard smokers admit that restrictions are coming, but not without a fight. Al Dale, ABC News, Greensboro, North Carolina. PETER JENNINGS: In a moment, we'll return to the debate - the Perot-Gore debate - how the White House used Mr. Perot's own tactics to take him on. [Commercial break]

The "nicotine spiking" lie, 1994

When the anti-smoker vermin wish to pretend that smokers are "addicts," they claim that smokers are able to precisely "titrate" the dose of nicotine they receive. But when the vermin accuse the tobacco companies of conspiring to make smokers addicted by adding nicotine, they promptly forget that this would make any such addition a wasted effort. Furthermore, the vermin ignore the basic fact that different strains of tobacco, and different growing conditions, naturally result in different levels of nicotine.

ABC-TV World News Tonight, Feb. 25, 1994 6:30-7:00 PM (ET) TRANSCRIPT Peter Jennings, anchor: The U.S. government is considering a major frontal assault on the tobacco industry. The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said today that he is looking into whether cigarettes might be regulated as an addictive drug. Here is what's changed. There is now evidence that cigarette manufacturers carefully manipulate the nicotine content of their product to assure each cigarette packs a certain punch. The evidence has been uncovered by John Martin, who's been investigating the story for the ABC news program Day One. John Martin reporting: The investigation found that tobacco companies are adding to cigarettes, waste products fortified with an extract that contains nicotine. As a result, the companies are able to manipulate the nicotine levels in cigarettes. The Surgeon General has determined that nicotine is a highly addictive drug. A former R.J. Reynolds manager, who requested anonymity, explained why the companies control the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. R.J. Reynolds Manager (Unidentified): The put nicotine, in the form of tobacco extract, into the product to keep the consumer happy. Martin- They're fortifying the product with nicotine, is that correct? RJR Manager: The waste filler? Yes they are. Martin: This long-held secret could subject the industry to federal regulation, if it is determined that nicotine is being added for the purpose of addicting smokers. The companies say nicotine is a natural part of the extract, used for flavoring, and is not intended to addict smokers. Joseph Debethizy (RJRResearch.Director): It's a natural component of tobacco, and it's totally derived from tobacco. And we are not, in any way, doing that. Martin: Nevertheless, the FDA said today, "Evidence is accumulating that cigarette manufaoturers may intend that their products contain nicotine to satisfy an addiction." John Martin, ABC News, New York. Jennings: There's going to be a good deal more about this Monday evening on the ABC news magazine Day One, 8:00 PM, 7:00 Central time.

ABC World News Tonight 6:30 pm ET Mar. 24, 1994 08:00 Eastern Time Transcript # 4059-8 HEADLINE: Philip Morris Files Libel Suit Against ABC. PETER JENNINGS: ...The largest tobacco company in the world, Philip Morris, filed a lawsuit against the American Broadcast Company - this company. Philip Morris is seeking $10 billion for libel. Here's ABC's Jim Angle. JIM ANGLE, ABC News: [voice-over] The Philip Morris claim of libel focuses primarily on a statement in a Day One broadcast that the tobacco industry artificially adds nicotine to cigarettes to keep people smoking. MURRAY BRING, Senior V.P., Philip Morris: These allegations are not true. And ABC knows that they are not true. Philip Morris does not in any way, shape or form spike its cigarettes with nicotine. JIM ANGLE: [voice-over] The ABC report pointed to an industry practice of adding reconstituted tobacco things such as stalks and stems - to cigarettes. Although Philip Morris acknowledges that the process of making cigarettes changes nicotine levels, the company contends that it actually takes out 20 to 25 percent of the natural nicotine. ABC News sought interviews with Philip Morris officials before the broadcast in question. The company declined and sent a general statement, but would not answer specific questions about its practices. ABC said today it stands by. its reporting. Jim Angle, ABC News, Washington. PETER JENNINGS: One other note on this subject. Tomorrow, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, David Kessler, testifies before Congress. He has suggested that the FDA is considering whether to categorize cigarettes as a carrier for a drug because they contain nicotine, which the government says is addictive. Should that happen, it could lead to further restrictions on cigarettes perhaps an effort to restrict the amount of nicotine in cigarettes.

Mar. 20, 1994 Draft of Philip Morris lawsuit against American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., Day One anchor Forrest Sawyer, reporter John Martin, and producer or co-producer Walt Bogdanich, for their programs of Feb. 28 and Mar. 7, 1994. "Announcing that they had "uncovered" the tobacco indastry's "last best secret" "never before disclosed to consumers or the government", and asserting that their discoveries "could completely change the tobacco industry", defendants, through the use of sensationalized false and reckless allegations, told vlewers across the nation, that tobacco companies, including Phililp Morris, are artificially "spiking" their cigarettes sold in the United States with extraneous nicotine for the purpose of keeping: smokers hooked. 12. Following this Day One broadcast, foreseeably, the national networks and press accepted as true Day One's supposed "revelation" that the tobacco industry "spikes" its cigarettes with extra nicotine, and repeated these charges virtually daily. In what can only be described as a public frenzy, reporters, the public, government regulators and Congressmen, "astonished" and "shocked" by Day One's "revelation", called for investigation and possible new regulation. And the stock of plaintiff Philip Morris Companies and other companies having businesses engaged in the tobacco industry fell dramatically in reaction to Day One's charges and the regulators' reaction, thereto. But the frenzy whipped up by Day One is based on, a. totally false and defamatory premise made sp of whole cloth: that Philip Morris and other tobacco companies intentionally add extraneous nicotine to the tobacco used in the cigarette manufacturing process in order to keep smokers hooked. As set forth below, Philip Morris does no such thing and, upon information and belief, neither do the other American tobacco companies."

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE CITY OF RICHMOND PHILIP MORRIS COMPANIES INC. and PHILIP MORRIS INCORPORATED, Plaintiffs, AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANIES, INC., and WALT BOGDANICH, Defendants. AT LAW NO. 760CL94X00816-00 AMENDED MOTION FOR JUDGMENT. May 1994 (est.). "The true facts with respect to these processes are as follows: a. The production of reconstituted tobacco -- This process ..was developed decades ago and is widely used throughout the cigarette manufacturing industry. It involves the utilization of the stem portion of the large tobacco leaf as well as small pieces of the leaf itself broken off during the stemming process. These natural tobacco materials are reconfigured into tobacco sheets capable of being used in the cigarette manufacturing process. In order to form these tobacco materials into sheets, it is necessary first temporarily to separate out the solubles, which would otherwise interfere with the sheet-making process. Those solubles include nicotine. Separation of the solubles is accomplished by adding large quantities of water in order to dissolve the solubles and separate them from the fibrous part of the tobacco, which consists largely of cellulose. The fiber is then pulped with water and, using standard paper-making process, milled out as sheets. The solubles -- minus potassium nitrate and excess water which have been removed, and plus certain non-nicotine containing flavors, preservatives and moisturizers which have been added -- and the sheets are then recombined. The process is an entirely closed and continuous one: no nicotine whatsoever not found in the original natural tobacco materials is introduced in the production of the reconstituted tobacco sheets. Indeed, the reconstituted tobacco sheets contain approximately 20-25 % less nicotine than the natural tobacco materials which are used in the process because substantial nicotine is lost in the process and is not replaced. Upon emerging from the presses, the reconstituted tobacco sheets are chopped into small pieces to be blended with natural tobacco leaves and transported to the cigarette manufacturing plant. Because stems naturally contain only approximately 25% of the nicotine contained in the leaf portion of the tobacco plant, and because, as set forth above, substantial nicotine is lost in the reconstitution process, reconstituted tobacco sheets contain far less nicotine than natural tobacco leaf and the use of such reconstituted tobacco sheet in the ultimate tobacco blend serves significantly to lower the nicotine content of cigarettes. And contrary to Day One's claims, no "powerful extract containing nicotine and flavor" or any other nicotine substance is added in the process. Nor is there anything at all "secret" about the re-constitution process: it has long been widely used in the industry, publicly known, described in books and articles about cigarette manufacturing going back at least as far as 1967, and, indeed, is even fully described in the 1979 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health, p. 14-27."

Peter Jennings' infamous sneer at disgusted voters, 1994

"Nonetheless, many in the media refuse to believe the midterm elections were at all ideological or delivered a co- herent message. Take ABC News anchor Peter Jennings. He began his Nov. 14 radio commentary with this observation: 'Some thoughts on those angry voters. Ask parents of any 2-year- old, and they can tell you about those temper tantrums: the stomping feet, the rolling eyes, the screaming. It's clear that the anger controls the child and not the other way around. It's the job of the parent to teach the child to control the anger and channel it in a positive way. Imagine a nation full of uncontrolled 2-year-old rage. The voters had a temper tantrum last week.' Jennings then concluded: 'Parenting and governing don't have to be dirty words. The nation can't be run by an angry 2-year-old.' Far from being enraged toddlers, Americans knew exactly why they were mad on election day. The Democrats fundamentally misread their '92 election victory and believed it represented some kind of a mandate to go 'Back to the Future' and complete the unfinished agenda of the Great Society with some countercultural social trimmings attached. They ignored polls showing voters no longer believed government was a 'good buy.' If it were a consumer product on a store shelf it would be removed for being defective and sued for false advertising." (Voters Throw A Party Out. By John H. Fund. Rising Tide, Jan/Feb. 1995.)

RTNDA Rewards Jennings for Lying, 1995

The Radio Television News Directors Association gave Jennings their Paul White award, showing that the whole lot of them are rotten-to-the-core scum, whose supposed "Code of Ethics" is absolutely meaningless. "RTNDA honored Jennings numerous times during his career for his work and for being a role model for other journalists. In 1995, he received the Paul White Award, RTNDA's highest honor, which recognizes an individual's lifetime contributions to electronic journalism. Years later, he commented that the Paul White Award meant more to him than many because it was recognition by his peers." (RTNDA Mourns Loss of Peter Jennings. News Release, RTNDA, August 8, 2005 .)

Jennings propagandizes for FDA regulation, 1996

(June 27, 1996, 10:00-11:00 PM (ET) ABC-TV Peter Jennings Reporting Transcript) This is how the vermin demonstrate their "fairness" and "impartiality:" Peter Jennings, host : Good evening and welcome. This hour is about cigarettes and the people who make them. Which means it is about the only product that you can buy virtually anywhere which, when used as directed, kills more than four hundred thousand Americans every year..," a filthy Big Lie founded on scientific fraud. The Lasker Lobby's political appointee, FDA Commissioner David Kessler, gibbers that "Every medical organization, every scientific organization that's looked at it over the last decade has concluded that nigotine is an addictive substance. And it is our job to regulate those products. The law is very clear on that." Kessler thinks we're a bunch of dumb rubes who don't know that those corrupt lackeys, whom he pretends speak in the name of science, were anointed by the same filthy Lasker Lobby who gave him his job, to manufacture a smear against smoking which would ratiuonalize FDA regulation and ultiomately outlawing tobacco.

Why our dictators need cheap oil: to keep their transportation costs down as they flood tobacco farmers (and workers) with cheap imports

(World News Tonight With Peter Jennings. 6:30 pm ET. Feb. 28, 1997. Headline: Struggling Tobacco Farmers Blame Big Company Practices.) Jennings gloats over new federal rules forcing stores to make customers show a photo ID to buy tobacco products; then over tobacco farmers' anger over cheap imports.

The Hitler-Lie That Tobacco Executives Lied Under Oath, 1998

FACT: Tobacco executives were NOT under oath when they were questioned about "nicotine addiction."

FACT: The Lasker Lobby used its political pull to manufacture the "nicotine addiction" smear for propaganda purposes - and every good person should be proud to reject their sleazy ploy.

FACT: The media conceal these facts, and deliberately lie by both word and picture to deceive the public and pimp phony outrage.

FACT: Because they were not under oath, there was no "perjury" to investigate, and that rubbish that "[t]he Justice Department is still investigating whether the others perjured themselves" is an unadulterated LIE BY INNUENDO.

ABC News Show: World News Tonight With Peter Jennings (6:30 pm ET) Jan. 29, 1998 Transcript # 98012905-j04. Headline: A Closer Look. Byline: Deborah Amos, Peter Jennings. Highlight: How Times Have Changed For Tobacco Companies. PETER JENNINGS: A couple of minutes ago, we reported that the big tobacco companies were in Congress today, pushing hard for a national settlement of all the lawsuits against them. The settlement would require the tobacco companies to pay a very large sum of money to the government, and they would agree to be more closely regulated. In return, they would get some protection from future lawsuits. So tonight, we're going to take "A Closer Look" at how far the country has come in three and a half years. Do you remember this? CHAIRMAN: Do you swear that the testimony you're about to give is the troth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. TOBACCO COMPANY EXECUTIVES: I do. PETER JENNINGS: (voice-over) The seven men who ran the tobacco industry almost four years ago... 1st TOBACCO COMPANY EXECUTIVE: I don't believe that nicotine or our products are addictive. PETEK JENNINGS:...swearing one after the other, under oath, that they did not believe that the nicotine in their prodact was addictive. 2nd TOBACCO COMPANY EXECUTIVE: I believe that nicotine is not addictive. 3rd TOBACCO COMPANY EXECUTIVE: And I, too, believe that nicotine is not additive. PETER JENNINGS: (voice-over) Every one of these big tobacco executives has moved on or been moved since that day. One has died. The Justice Department is still investigating whether the others perjured themselves. (on camera) Yes, in every imaginable way, times have changed for the tobacco companies. They've been under pressure ever here. Here is ABC's Deborah Amos. DEBORAH AMOS, ABC News: (voice-over) Americans have come a long way on the tobacco road. The romance is gone now. So is Joe Camel. Smokers are out in the cold, banned in baseball parks, restaurants and even in some bars. JOSEPH CALIFANO, National Center on Addiction: in the last couple of years, just about every state in the union has strengthened their anti-smoking ordinances. DEBORAH AMOS: (voice-over) In fact, 28 states have passed some kind of tobacco control meastures in the last year alone -- raising cigarette taxes, banning billboard ads and vending machine sales, making prisons smoke-free. And for the first time, underage smokers are fined. In some states, they are arrested. NARRATOR (Anti-Smoking Commercial: We have to sell cigarettes to your kids. DEBORAH AMOS: (voice-over) A new attitude towards tobacco and tobacco companies, says Joe Califano. JOSEPH CALIFANO: The tobacco companies had, for decades, lied to the American people and exploited the children of the United States. DEBORAH AMOS: (voice-over) Certainly, concern that children were specifically targeted focused political will. (on camera) And focused attention not only on the health effects of tobacco but, for the first time, on the conduct of the industry itself. Did they lie? Did they manipulate nicotine? Did they intentionally market to children'?. (voice-over) Looking for answers, a cast of powerful characters -- the first anti-smoking president ever, aggressive government officials. PETER PRINGLE, Author, "Cornered: Big Tobacco...": You had to have this confluence of events, and you had to have everybody working together. DEBORAH AMOS: (voice-over) And most important, whistle- blowers, including industry scientists who leaked industry secrets. PETER PRINGLE: You've got a fantastic pile of evidence against the tobacco companies which forced them to the negotiating table. So the whole thing has changed. DEBORAH AMOS: (voice-over) In the end, it was the industry that chose to deal rather than fight. The result -- historic state settlements, new regulations, the pending national settlement. Part of that deal, early retirement for this character. But the tobacco companies aren't giving up. They've returned to proven old formulas, betting there's still some romance and big money in tobacco. Deborah Amos, ABC News, New York. [See the rotten little vermin gloat, "Yes, in every imaginable way, times have changed for the tobacco companies." We must make those vermin PAY!]

George Strait

"George Strait Medical Correspondent ABC News. Since 1983, Mr. Strait has been ABC News' primary correspondent covering medical and health news. He contributes to "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings," and "Nightline" on health care reform, medical/ethical concerns regarding new technologies, and AIDS. Mr. Strait received has twice received his industry's highest award, the [Columbia University] Alfred I. duPont Award. In 1994 he led ABC's coverage of South Africa's transition to democracy. He produced a series on how health-care served as a metaphor for the success or failure of the new South African government under Mandela. Mr. Strait was the first American network journalist to be allowed into Zaire to report on the AIDS epidemic and he received the Edward R. Murrow Award for his report on the Soviet Union's health-care system. Mr. Strait joined ABC News in November, 1977; prior to his current assignment, he was an ABC News White House correspondent. Before that he was the Washington correspondent for CBS. Mr. Strait was graduated from Boston University with an AB in biology and completed an MS in biochemical genetics at Atlanta University." (George Strait bio, Ceres Conference, The Georgetown University Center for Food and Nutrition Policy, April 2-4, 1998.) He was on the panel on "Translating science for public consumption," p. 5.

"Following the inauguration of President Clinton in January 1993, he was named correspondent in charge of directing coverage of the health care reform debate and Hillary Clinton's Task Force on health care reform. Prior to joining ABC News, he worked at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia and WQXI-TV in Atlanta." He received a Blakesely Award from the American Heart Association, and was also Chairman of the Board of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. He left ABC in 1999, and in January 2003, he became Assistant Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs at the University of California at Berkeley. (George Strait bio, Leading Authorities, 02-04-06.)

"In 1983, Roone Arledge, then president of ABC News, chose Strait to be the first medical and health reporter in network television news. He held the position of chief medical correspondent until he left ABC in 1999.... Strait has also remained active over the years as a media consultant and taught seminars and courses on science reporting and broadcast journalism at institutions such as Columbia, Rutgers and Wesleyan universities." (Veteran journalist joins UC Berkeley as new head of Public Affairs. Media Relations, Dec. 19, 2002 )

cast 02-06-06