U.S EMBASSIES TO STOP PROMOTING TOBACCO

NEW YORK - The State Department has barred its embassies worldwide from
helping American tobacco companies sell their products overseas, the Wall
Street Journal reported today.

The paper said it obtained a copy of the order, contained in a cable sent
in February, that instructs embassies not to promote the sale or export of
tobacco products overseas. This treatment contrasts sharply with the 1980s
and early 1990s, when U.S. diplomats championed tobacco as a U.S. export,
the newspaper said.

The cable also directs U.S. diplomatic posts to support, rather than
challenge, local anti-smoking laws and regulations that may reduce U.S.
tobacco-company sales, as long as they are applied "in a nondiscriminatory
manner to both imported and domestic tobacco."

Until now, there have been no written rules telling U.S. diplomats overseas
how to handle tobacco companies on issues ranging from sales promotion to
trade cases.

The move comes as members of Congress debate a bill that would impose
billions of dollars in fees on the tobacco industry and use the money to
pay state Medicaid costs of illnesses related to smoking and for
anti-smoking campaigns.

Today, the bill went to the Senate Finance Committee, which has sharply
criticized some of the measure's key provisions and has suggested that it
might add tax cuts and additional spending programs to the plan.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)