HL Deb 04 April 1963 vol 248 cc661-2

H. H. Mallatratt,

Secretary,

18th March, 1963.

J. P. Dodds, Esq.,

Ministry of Health,

Alexander Fleming House,

Elephant and Castle,

London, S.E.1.

Dear Mr. Dodds,

Your letter of the 15th ult. has now been considered by my Committee.

After very careful consideration my Committee is still of the opinion that their view of this matter is right and therefore they are adhering to their decision.

At the same time I am again instructed to say that my Committee will welcome discussions with your Ministry in regard to future campaigns.

Yours sincerely,

(H. H. MALLATRATT)

(Signed) Secretary.

Office of the Minister for Science,

2, Richmond Terrace,

S.W.1.

3rd April, 1963.

I have now heard from my colleague the Minister of Health that your Committee intend to adhere to their decision to ban certain posters issued by the Minister of Health containing the statement that "cigarettes cause lung cancer".

Your original explanation of this was that this is undue exaggeration. As you know from my letter to you of 19th December I believe that your Committee is taking responsibility on itself in a scientific matter on which every scientifically qualified body of any substance takes a contrary view to that of your Committee, and on which your Committee is not qualified to pass judgment.

I also observe that your Committee is adhering to its decision in spite of the fact that you subsequently conceded that the posters would have been accepted had they instead contained the statement that "cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer". This seems to me to be a quibble without scientific or logical significance.

For these reasons I propose to go ahead with my previous proposal to publish the entire correspondence between the Government and your Committee. As I understand a Question is likely to be put down on the Order Paper which I shall have to answer I shall be doing this almost at once.

(Signed) HAILSHAM.

H. H. Mallatratt, Esq.,

Joint Censorship Committee of the Poster Advertising Industry.