EXPORTING DISEASE

As communism fell in Eastern Europe, the Marlboro Man rode into town. U.S.
cigarette makers were in the vanguard, exporting their lethal products as
symbols of Western glamour and free-market prosperity. In the former Soviet
Union, the three big multinational tobacco firms became, along with energy
companies, the biggest investors.

When Western advertising began to provoke a nationalist backlash, a new
brand appeared. "Peter the Great" cigarettes were designed---according to
an inscription on each pack---for those who "believe in the revival of the
traditions and grandeur of the Russian lands." They are made by, yes, the
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

The tobacco industry may be on the defensive in America, but it is
unashamedly on the march overseas, trying any trick to lure old smokers to
new brands in ex-Communist countries and to hook new smokers there as well
as in the developing world.

The big three---Reynolds, Philip Morris Inc. and British-American Tobacco
Co.---want a settlement in large part so that legal challenges in their
stagnant home market vould not distract them from growth opportunities in
the Third World. But an:agreement that protects some American children from
tobacco addiction at the expense of many more children in foreign countries
would not be much of a victory.

That is why it is important that any tobacco bill include some measures to
limit tobacco's predatory behavior overseas. Senator John McCain's
proposal---with support from Senators Ron Wyden, Dick Durbin and
others---would prohibit the U. S . government from promoting the U.S.
tobacco industry abroad. It also would step up U.S. efforts against
cigarette smuggling and assist other nations in their anti-smoking efforts,
with funding coming from a two cents-a-pack "fee " on overseas sales of
U.S. cigarettes. Perhaps most important, it would seek to impose the same
restrictions against selling or marketing to children overseas as would
apply in America.

Some of these provisions are modeled on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,
a precedent for U.S. regulation of companies' overseas behavior. But it is
not clear whether they could apply to foreign subsidiaries, and even in
their present forrn they are under attack from some senators and the
tobacco industry.

The administration should work with Congress in passing the strongest
legally defensible provisions possible. President Bill Clinton also should
provide more leadership of an internatiqnal coalition against smoking.

Tobacco accounted for 2.6 percent. Of the worldwide burden of disease in
1990, according to a recent study by the World Health Organization and the
World Bank. By 2020, that figure will grow to 9 percent---more than
malnutrition, HIV or any single disease. U.S. firms bear considerable
responsibility for that sad statistic.