REPORT WARNS OF RISE IN ETHNIC SMOKING

In a report that afforded President Clinton the perfect opportunity to
renew his call for comprehensive tobacco legislation, the surgeon general,
Dr. David Satcher, warned Monday that increases in smoking by minorities,
especially minority teen-agers, threaten to reverse significant declines in
the incidence of cancer.

The study, the first surgeon general's report to examine the health risks
that tobacco poses to minorities, found that American Indians and Alaska
natives were the ethnic group most at risk. Forty percent of them smoked,
compared with 25 percent of the general U.S. population. From 1990 to 1995,
while lung cancer deaths declined among other minority groups, they rose
among American Indians and Alaska natives, the study found. Among
teen-agers, cigarette use increased among all racial and ethnic groups in
the 1990s. But it was rising most rapidly among blacks, reversing declines
in that population in the 1970s and 1980s. If the pattern continues,
Satcher estimated, 1.6 million black children will become regular smokers,
and 500,000 will die as a result.

"These increases in tobacco use are a time bomb for our minority
populations," the surgeon general said at a ceremony to present the report,
on the South Lawn of the White House. He concluded: "Smoking is the most
preventable cause of death in America. So let's get busy and prevent it."
Satcher then presented the 332-page tome to the president, who wasted no
time in denouncing the tobacco industry for advertising to young people.
Nearly three dozen children dressed in bright red T-shirts with the logo of
the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington advocacy group,
lined up behind Clinton as he spoke.

"These are the replacement smokers of the advertisers' strategy," Clinton
said, "but these are our children, and we can't replace them." Moments
later, he added: "They're just kids. We're the grown-ups. If we know what
the danger is, and we know what the remedy is, are we going to do what it
takes to save their lives and their health and their future, or not?"
Rarely are surgeon general's reports issued with such pomp and
circumstance. But Monday's, the 24th in a series on tobacco use that began
34 years ago, and the first issued by Satcher, came at a time of great
political uncertainty over the prospects of tobacco legislation. The Senate
Commerce Committee has overwhelmingly approved a measure, put forward by
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that requires the tobacco companies to pay $516
billion over 25 years and raises the price of cigarettes by $1.10 a pack by
the year 2003. Senate leaders have said they hope to bring the bill to the
floor for a vote next month.

Three Senate Republicans were on hand for Monday's White House ceremony;
one of them, Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, shared a spot on the stage with
Clinton, in an effort by the White House to demonstrate, as Clinton said,
that tobacco control "is a medical, not a political issue, and an American,
not a partisan issue."

But the issue is very much partisan in the House of Representatives, where
Republican leaders have indicated they will oppose the McCain bill, which
is also opposed by the tobacco industry. Proponents of the legislation said
that Monday's report will put pressure on the Senate to act quickly. "There
is no turning back without the public holding Congress accountable," said
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The study
looked at four major ethnic groups -- black; Hispanic; Native American and
Alaska native; and Asian and Pacific Islander -- that together make up a
quarter of the U.S. population.

The study, based on statistics from 1994 and 1995, found that no single
factor determines patterns of tobacco use among these groups, but rather a
complex interaction of factors, including socio-economic status,
assimilation, stress, biology, targeted advertising and the price of
tobacco, accounts for trends that vary widely from ethnic group to ethnic
group. For instance, the study found that while Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders are the least likely of the four ethnic groups to smoke, several
local surveys reported very high smoking rates among recent male immigrants
from Southeast Asia.

"This new report leaves no doubt that cigarette smoking impairs and kills
people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds," Satcher said, 10 million of
whom currently smoke. Tobacco, he said, is "holding hostage the hopes for a
better life."