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Proposed tobacco deal took aim at teen smoking
April 8, 1998
Teen smoking
Web posted at: 11:17 p.m. EDT (0317 GMT)From Correspondent Greg Lamotte
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Teen smoking is pervasive in this country, and over the past few years, it has actually gotten worse.
A recent survey found that more than 51 percent of white male high school students had used some form of tobacco product -- cigarettes, cigars or chewing tobacco -- during the previous month. For high school girls, the figure was 36 percent. Both figures were 12 to 15 percent higher than a similar survey in 1995.
The proposed settlement between the tobacco industry and the attorneys general of 40 states took direct aim at industry practices that critics say contribute to teen smoking.
It would have banned outdoor advertising and severely restricted magazine advertising. Cigarette machines would have been relegated to history. And if teen-age smoking wasn't reduced by 15 percent over the next three years, and 60 percent in the next decade, tobacco companies would have faced fines totaling several billion dollars.
The industry is now bailing out of the settlement because it says Congress has gone overboard, adding more punitive measures that weren't in the original settlement.
In remarks Wednesday, when he declared the deal "dead," RJR Nabisco Chairman Steven Goldstone defended the industry against charges it was promoting teen-age smoking, saying that "less than 2 percent of all sales go to underage smokers."
But anti-smoking forces see that debate in another light.
"We know for sure that more than 80 percent -- closer to 90 percent -- of adults who are addicted to tobacco began their habit ... before they were 18 -- before they were legally able to purchase them," said Raymond Melrose of the American Cancer Society.
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- Big tobacco won't work toward settlement - April 8, 1998
- 5 tobacco firms to withdraw from deal - April 8, 1998
- AllPolitics - Harsh words, strewn chairs and tobacco's lost G.O.P. friends mark a difficult negotiation - April 13, 1998
- AllPolitics - Clinton says it is in tobacco's interest to back McCain bill - April 3, 1998
- Tobacco firms post internal documents on Internet - February 27, 1998
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- Clinton will try to save tobacco deal - September 15, 1997
Related sites:
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- RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company
- Tobacco Resources on the Internet - Northern California Association of Law Libraries
- Major legal cases and court coverage of tobacco lawsuits around the world - HealthWatch.org
- Additional related sites - "Tobacco Under Attack" special section
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