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It all started in 1969 with a bit of black humor. As a personal gesture of exasperation
when one of my patients refused to try to quit smoking, I
made an
ashtray with a pair of lungs perched on top. Smoke channeled through
one lung and turned it a pukish yellow-brown while the other
lung
stayed clear. John Banzhaf had just started his anti-smoking efforts
with the founding of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health),
and the two of us gave lung ashtrays to all members of Congress
with the message,
"Don't Vote For Death" pasted on its base. (Congressional
hearings had just begun on banning cigarette advertising from
TV.) As luck
would have it, the TV networks, Reader's Digest, Esquire magazine,
the Associated Press, and a myriad of journalists picked up on
the
prank. As a result of more than 10,000 letters asking for help
for smokers, my health education efforts then began in earnest
through
HEALTH EDCO, a division of Spenco Medical Corporation.
Today, WRS Group, Ltd. is America's leading producer
of health education products for schools, hospitals, doctors' offices,
foundations, and corporations. While we offer more than 3,000 different
products, our specialty lies in the development of the many unique
3D teaching models you will find in our catalog. While all of us
inevitably get discouraged, we have come a long way from the days
when I went to medical school and the Journal of the American
Medical Association accepted cigarette advertising.
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