PELOSI WANTS LAWS ON SALE OF U.S. TOBACCO ABROAD

Country's worldwide image is at stake, she says

With a backdrop of American cigarette ads and posters from around the
globe, San Francisco Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi called yesterday for tough
new restrictions on U.S. tobacco marketing overseas.

At a Chinatown press conference, the San Francisco Democrat, together with
Richard Durbin, D-Ill., a key opponent of the tobacco industry in the U.S.
Senate, tried to drum up support for a set of rules for international
marketing to be included in any comprehensive federal tobacco legislation.

"The cowboy that has run roughshod over children in America is now doing so
overseas," said Durbin, pointing to a Marlboro ad used in Asia. "These are
God's children. They need protection all around the world, and we should
accept that responsibility."

Pelosi warned that America's image abroad is at stake.

"How can we say that tobacco is not OK for our young people, and then say
it is OK for young people overseas?" she said. "This is a very important
issue. We must stop having the icons of America closely tied to smoking."

But the lawmakers stopped short of declaring they would not vote for a bill
that left out the desired international provisions -- a section the tobacco
industry is fighting to delete from bipartisan legislation under debate in
Washington, D.C.

"I'd have to think long and hard about a bill that (was) good for Americans
but not for the children of other countries," said Pelosi.

The provisions would bar government aid in marketing tobacco products
abroad, fund anti-smoking advertisements overseas, require warning labels
to be placed on cigarette packs sold in other countries and levy a tax on
tobacco firms of 2 cents on each pack of cigarettes sold abroad in order to
finance such efforts.

Steve Duchesne, a spokesman for a coalition of the five largest American
tobacco companies, said such restrictions are totally unacceptable.
"Congress cannot make the law for other countries," he said. "You simply
cannot export the law."

Although tobacco companies have pledged not to sell their products to
children in the United States, Duchesne said that in some other countries
there are no minimum ages for tobacco use.

"Clearly, tobacco use is viewed differently from culture to culture outside
the U.S.," he said. ``It is unfair to subject U.S. companies to different
rules and regulations than other companies functioning in foreign markets."

The international regulations sought by Congress, he said, would
"effectively eliminate exports" of U.S. tobacco products, cutting American
tobacco production by one-third and eliminating thousands of jobs.

"It will merely shift the business to foreign competitors, most of which
are state-run monopolies," said Duchesne.

But at the San Francisco Chinatown setting, chosen as a symbol of America's
diverse international heritage, critics said it would be the height of
hypocrisy for Congress to pass laws restricting the marketing of U.S.
tobacco products to American teenagers but to permit it in less developed
parts of the world.

"The U.S. government, and U.S. taxpayers, should not be a part of any deal
to underwrite or subsidize the export of deadly products overseas," said
Durbin, who as a congressman led the fight to ban cigarettes from
airliners.

A panel of international tobacco experts emphasized that half of American
tobacco company profits are now made overseas, and that cigarettes are
becoming a symbol of American marketing power in China and the former
communist countries of Europe. Pelosi said she was astonished by two
Filipino calendar posters featuring the Virgin Mary and St. Theresa, and
below them an assortment of American cigarette packs.

Mark Palmer, a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary while it was still under
communist control, told the news gathering that he was shocked at how U.S.
tobacco companies used advertisements to equate American cigarettes with
freedom. He called tobacco marketing abroad "the biggest damage the U.S.
has done to other societies" and an affront conducted "on a massive scale."

Asked if U.S. tobacco companies are marketing directly to children, Palmer
produced a recent advertisement for R.J. Reynolds' Camel brand released in
Poland, which featured a carload of smiling teenagers smoking cigarettes.
The ad is linked to a music concert series sponsored by the tobacco company
that Palmer said is aimed at children ages 12 to 17.

"Every half-hour, kids pass out free cigarettes to kids," he said. "They
are taking our own value system and the love of Poles for America and
corrupting it for their own immoral and unethical purposes," said Palmer.

Lawmakers said that Americans should be concerned about how U.S. companies
represent our culture abroad.

"We in the U.S. are going to be held accountable for this," said Durbin.
"It is shameful, disgraceful and unacceptable."

Tobacco industry spokesman Duchesne said the arguments against
international marketing may well be moot, because the industry has walked
away from talks on federal tobacco legislation.

"What began as a noble purpose to reduce youth smoking has degenerated into
politicians seeking a measure of revenge against these companies, and to
extract higher taxes against smokers," he said.

Tobacco makers ``disengaged'' from the debate in Congress when lawmakers
increased the settlement costs to more than $500 million, above the $328
million agreed to in settlement talks with states' attorneys general. The
international provisions were not included in the earlier proposed
settlement.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle