WE'RE HOLDING OUR BREATH FOR SECONDHAND WHINING

WITH only one day left to sign the pending tobacco settlement, many states
are posturing and squabbling over what exactly that 146-page document is: a
gift from the gods, a work of the devil or some sort of purgatorial
compromise.

Washington, fortunately, has been spared that debate. The state's attorney
general, Christine Gregoire, helped drive settlement negotiations and she
long ago got public-health leaders involved. Washington's strategy hasn't
been perfect - the state health department, for example, has lacked
leadership at this critical time. But Washington's unity can be traced to
an underlying agreement about the settlement's purpose. It's not about
revenge, but about a pragmatic way to extract money and concessions from an
industry for the public good.

A lack of pragmatism underlies much of the tobacco foes' disappointment
with the proposed $206 billion settlement. It's not enough, sniffed the
same zealous activists who helped kill the last national settlement by
forcing the cost above $500 billion. They say the massive restrictions on
tobacco companies' First Amendment rights don't go far enough. It's not
enough to ban advertising on billboards and stadiums, or to forbid cartoon
characters in future ads; they're peeved the Marlboro Man gets to keep riding.

The settlement wouldn't cover all tobacco-related health costs, but it
would provide billions that states otherwise would be without. The industry
could still be sued by individual smokers and in class-action lawsuits, and
it would be barred from opposing proposed state or local laws designed to
limit youth smoking.

Still, some tobacco foes even fault the attorneys general for worrying only
about the United States instead of the entire world.

"It is irresponsible of the attorneys general to let Big Tobacco off the
hook" for overseas tobacco use, complained an executive of the American
Lung Association.

The pending settlement is neither a failure nor a final answer, but a
sturdy beginning. Congress must build on that beginning by legislating
federal regulation of nicotine and by considering extra federal cigarette
taxes for tobacco-related Medicare expenses; state legislatures must treat
the money like health IRAs instead of Lotto checks.

But until a critical mass of states sign on, Washington must hold its
breath through this cloud of secondhand whining, and wait.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski