Indoor Air Quality: Alternative Strategy

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Indoor Air Quality: Alternative Strategy This Philip Morris Scientific Affairs report from 1986 reveals overall industry strategy to help defeat proposed bans on indoor smoking, and links this strategy's similarity to the one they sucessfully used to defeat efforts aimed at attaining fire-safe cigarettes:

The central argument ACVA Atlantic, Inc, (a firm specilaizing on indoor air quality) makes is that indoor smoke is merely a symptom of a larger problem: inadequate ventilation. Inadequate ventilation causes several serious problems including fungus and bacterial contamination. These pollutants often cause illness and discomfort which are then blamed on cigarette smoke--a more visible and socially acceptable object of attack.

We should refocus our efforts against smoking restriction legislation and regulation to a general promotion of comprehensive indoor air quality review and improvement. This is analagous to our effort on the 'self-extinguishing' cigarette to focus on overall fire prevention and isolate its supporters as anti-smoking.

Strategy:
1. Mobilize all scientific studies of indoor air quality (i.e., radon, wood stoves, gas stoves, formaldehyde, asbestos, etc.) into a general indictment of the air we breathe indoors. Use a scientific front -- especially some liberal Nader group.

2. Use this material to fuel PR offensive on poor indoor air quality.

3. Create a model indoor air quality bill to be added to suggested state legislation book published annually. Model bill would focus on ventilation, filters, inspections, etc. Smoking would not be dealt with directly.

4. Make presentations to all trade associations (USC of C, NMA, API, etc.) on the real indoor air quality issues.

5. Organize firms like ACVA into travelling road show to hawk their wares to government and businesses much like the antis sell their advice to business and government on smoking policies.

To execute this program would require money, staff time and a first-rate PR firm.

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