Editorial: Warning, Lifestyle May Be Hazardous to Your Children

By A.E.P. Wall

It can increase the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus. The Federal Trade Commission wants to stop cigar companies from advertising on radio and television, even though less than 1 percent of the marketing budget of the five largest cigar makers was spent on radio and television.

It wants to require health warning labels, perhaps on cigar bands, which were devised originally to protect the fingers of lady smokers from tobacco stains. Or more likely on cigar boxes, which, once the cigars were gone, used to be the container of choice for seashells, coins and treasured aggies for generations of kids.

But to get back to that business about increased risk of mouth cancer and other cancers, plus increased risk of cirrhosis of the liver, cardiomyopathy and even psychosis. Those are the risks that come from drinking too much alcohol, and that means too much beer or too much wine or too much of the hard stuff.

In many places it is against the law to smoke in a bar. It might make you sick. Don't smoke carcinogens; sip them instead.

The state of Florida has taken the tobacco companies to court, winning enough money to cause a commotion in Tallahassee over how to spend it. Many agree that part of the cash should be used to educate people, especially young people, about the suicidal dimension of heavy puffing.

The movies helped persuade us that cigarettes were sophisticated. The smoke signals from cigars spelled s-u-c-c-e-s-s. Glittering glassware sparkled with champagne or showcased an olive in a chic martini.

It took a sharp eye to note that sop is short for sophisticate.

Only a couple of states now require health warnings on cigars, and that's where the Federal Trade Commission comes in. It has just recommended to Congress that health labels be required and that radio or television ads be forbidden.

There weren't any cigar warning labels when I stopped smoking. I had read about Ulysses S. Grant, how the joy of cigars and the jug ended in the torment of throat cancer, and I slowly, slowly figured it out. And I figured it out in time.

Maybe our whole culture needs a warning label, because tobacco, crack cocaine and vodka are cultural implants in the imagination. We learn from each other more than we learn from printed warnings, which is why dry cleaners don't worry about losing business to Wet Paint signs and why kids hook up with the president's practice instead of his preaching.

The warning label proposed in Washington is not just for export to the rest of the country. The label young people see is total, the whole life and purpose of their heroes.

Don't hold your breath until the Federal Trade Commission orders labels affixed to public officials, entertainers, clergy and writers, maybe something like this:

Warning: The lifestyle you model may be hazardous to the health of our kids.