BAN TOBACCO, SAYS SURGEON GENERAL

WASHINGTON - Surgeon General Richard Carmona said Tuesday that he supports
the banning of tobacco products - the first time the government's top
doctor and public health advocate has made such a strong statement about
the historically contentious subject.

Testifying at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on smokeless
tobacco and ``reduced risk'' tobacco products, Carmona was asked if he
would ``support the abolition of all tobacco products.''

"I would at this point, yes,'' he replied.

He declined to say whether he would support a specific law to ban tobacco -
saying that ``legislation is not my field'' - but did say he "would support
banning or abolishing tobacco products.''

"If Congress chose to go that way, that would be up to them,'' he said.
``But I see no need for any tobacco products in society.''

Carmona's comments, made in answer to questions from Rep. Ed Whitfield,
R-Ky., were received without much immediate response from the committee,
but representatives from tobacco states later said they were startled.

"It just came out of the blue,'' Whitfield said after the hearing. "I've
never heard anything like that from any public official - and even from the
advocates against tobacco. I was pretty disappointed and surprised and
quite shocked.''

Bush administration officials quickly distanced themselves from the
comments, saying the statement represented Carmona's views as a doctor
rather than the position of the administration.

"That is not the policy of the administration,'' said White House spokesman
Scott McClellan. ``The president supports efforts to crack down on youth
smoking, and we can do more as a society to keep tobacco away from kids.
That's our focus.''

But the comments Tuesday also reflected how far medical, and to some extent
public, views about tobacco have swung. Though Carmona's comments were the
most dramatic during Tuesday's hearing, those in the room - from
conservative Republican lawmakers to liberal Democrats - voiced a broad
consensus that tobacco is a killer.

The willingness to voice criticism of tobacco in ways that would have been
considered controversial not long ago was striking, especially in light of
the millions of dollars in campaign donations the tobacco industry gives to
politicians, especially to President Bush and Republicans in Congress.