LAND OF THE SMOKE-FREE

There is no case for stiff new penalties against America's tobacco firms

The extraordinary political battle over the future of America's tobacco
industry seems likely to come to a climax over the next few weeks. Will Bill
Clinton work with Republicans on Capitol Hill to impose drastic new
penalties on the once-mighty industry? Or will president and Congress settle
for posturing - each aiming to outbid the other ahead of this autumn's
Congressional elections, proposing ever more outlandish punishments, until
the process collapses without yielding legislation? The tobacco firms too
have a choice to make. Now that Congress has picked apart the deal they
agreed with state governments last June - a deal that, on any disinterested
assessment, was already harsh - should they refuse to co-operate in seeking
a national agreement, as they now threaten to do? And, if so, should they
fight their cases through the courts or seek quick settlements state by state?

Complicated stuff. Let us simplify. The politicians are debating, in effect,
whether to thump the industry severely or beat it to within an inch of its
life. Perhaps even now it isn't too late to point out there is no case for
doing either.

To judge by the rhetoric of the anti-tobacco campaign, America has taken
leave of its senses over smoking. Politicians and newspapers refer
mindlessly to tobacco firms as "dealers in death" - comparable to, or maybe
worse, than terrorists. Yes smoking is bad for you, as every packet of
cigarettes sold in America for the past thirty years has pointed out. But so
are lots of things: high-fat foods, alcohol, fast cars, unprotected sex and
jogging all take a dreadful toll. In a tolerably free society, you are
allowed to do what is bad for you, and what others would rather you didn't,
so long as you are harming only yourself. Despite the bally-hoo over
second-hand smoke, there is no good evidence that it poses a measurable risk
to bystanders. America's insistence, whenever possible, on enclosing smokers
in small glass-sided cubicles already protects non-smokers from both
nuisance and any risk. A tolerant society would recoil even against this,
never mind seek to mobilise a lynch-mob against the dissidents.

True, the tobacco companies have hardly helped their cause. Their refusal to
admit the obvious - that smoking is unhealthy and addictive - must rank as
one of the stupidest, and least successful, disinformation campaigns in
history. But this should have no bearing on their position in law: they
should not be judged negligent because everyone has known for decades what
they denied. The states' legal suits claiming damages for health-care costs
created by smoking, which have forced the industry to the negotiating table,
are bogus. On balance, smokers save public money by dying early.

The avowed priority of Mr Clinton and congressional leaders - to cut teenage
smoking - is just more humbug. Simply banning vending machines and enforcing
more vigorously the current laws against sales to minors would achieve more
in that regard than fining the industry billions or forcing it to agree to
unconstitutional bans on advertising. Turning tobacco into a wicked
indulgence by declaring war on it is certainly the best way to get teenagers
to take it up.

Fanaticism takes years off your life

The tobacco companies, aided by a coalition of junk-food firms, retailers
and civil-liberties groups, may yet hold the zealots at bay, both in state
courts and Congress. More likely, the firms will eventually have to agree to
some settlement. It is in America's interest that any such deal, whether
reached at the national or state level, falls far short of providing the
huge damages and draconian restrictions now being contemplated. The
intolerance of the anti- smoking movement is a greater threat than smoking.
If the zealots succeed in pushing cigarettes to the edge of prohibition,
their real goal, then what will be next? Not guns, obviously - no need to
get carried away. But beer, perhaps (it's bad for you, and drunks can be
violent). Or hamburgers (America has an obesity crisis, and fat people take
up too much space). Enough, already.