Roswell Park Urges Postal Service to Issue Commemorative Anti-Tobacco Stamp

BUFFALO, NY — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is hosting an exhibit of the world’s anti-smoking stamps and urging that a special stamp be created in 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health.

The International Tobacco Control Stamp Exhibit will be on display from November 1 through November 12 at Roswell Park, located at Elm & Carlton Streets. The Roswell Park exhibit features highlights of the prominent television, newspaper and magazine coverage of the release of the report on January 11, 1964 and includes anti-smoking postage stamps from around the world. The stamps were collected by James Lutschg, MD, a pulmonary disease physician in Baton Rouge, LA, and were donated to the University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society, whose Director, Alan Blum, MD, curated the exhibit. Dr. Blum is an adjunct professor in the Department of Health Behavior at Roswell Park.

“The 1964 report was historic in that it really changed people’s views about smoking and health and helped to lead changes in smoking behavior and reductions in diseases caused by tobacco use,” said K. Michael Cummings, PhD, Chair of the Department of Health Behavior at Roswell Park. “More than 60 million Americans have stopped smoking since the report was presented by Dr. Luther Terry in 1964. A stamp commemorating this monumental report will be an important symbol to remind us all to help prevent the next generation from the needless suffering caused by tobacco use.”

“The United States has issued stamps urging support for breast cancer research, prostate cancer screening, sickle cell awareness and the fight against alcoholism,” noted Dr. Blum. “Yet we are not among the 65 countries that have issued a stamp against smoking, which remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease.”

At its annual meeting in June, the American Medical Association passed a resolution, endorsed by dozens of other medical organizations, calling for such a stamp. Support for a stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the release of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health can be sent to the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee on Stamp Development, U.S. Postal Service, 1735 North Lynn Street, Suite 5013, Arlington, VA 22209-6432.

“Roswell Park is proud to be joining other health organizations in the campaign to encourage the U.S. Postal Service to adopt a commemorative stamp recognizing the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report,” said Donald L. Trump, MD, President and CEO of Roswell Park. “We strongly support this effort to give postal customers a tool for spreading tobacco prevention awareness.”

The mission of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit Roswell Park’s website at http://www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org.