Tobacco use among teenagers jumped by nearly one-third during the past six
years, with an especially alarming increase among black youths, federal
health officials reported yesterday.

Rates of tobacco use - which includes consumption of cigarettes, cigars and
smokeless tobacco- rose among high school students from 27.5 percent in
1991 to 36.4 percent in 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.

And smoking among black teens hailed not too long ago as the one success
story in an otherwise bleak picture has almost doubled, the CDC said.

The latest findings almost certainly further fuel efforts on Capitol Hill
and elsewhere to devise more effective ways to curb tobacco use among young
people. On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee approved sweeping
tobacco legislation that sets specific targets for reducing teen smoking
and establishes penalties against the tobacco industry if these goals are
not met.

"We're losing ground in the battle to protect our children," said Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. "There is no excuse for delay.
Congress must act promptly to enact comprehensive tobacco control
legislation."

Health officials said the latest trends are especially disturbing, given
the attention directed in recent years toward the problem of teenage
tobacco use.

"People ask: 'How can this be happening when so much attention is being
paid to teen smoking?"' said Dr. Michael Ericksen, director of the CDC's
office on smoking and health. I think the answer is that there has been a
lot of rhetoric but virtually no action. I think it's time for the rhetoric
to stop and the action to start!'

Ericksen and other health officials believe an approach that includes
product price increases, severe advertising restrictions and beefed up
education through the schools, community and media would have a notice.
able impact on teen tobacco use. 'We know what works, but we haven't done
what works," Ericksen said.

The Senate Commerce Committee bill contains some of the provisions called
for by Ericksen. It would raise the price of cigarettes by $1.10 a pack
over the next five years bringing the average price at the cash register
to more than $3 a pack and authorizes a variety of public education
programs designed to reduce tobacco use.

Lawmakers also are pushing for tobacco companies to agree voluntarily to
advertising limitations intended to curb their access to the teenage
market.

The new CDC data, from the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, measured
tobacco use among more than 16,000 U.S. students in grades 9 through 12.
The study found that nearly half 48.2 percent of male students and more
than a third - 36 percent - of female students had reported using
cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco during the past month.

The report also found that the consistent decline in smoking once seen
among black youth has now reversed sharply in recent years, increasing by
an estimated 80 percent between 1991 and 1997, from 12.6 percent to 22.7
percent.

The prevalence of smoking among black males doubled during that period,
from 14,2 percent to 28.2 percent, and increased 54 percent among females,
from 11.3 percent to 17.4 percent.

Health officials said they are baffled by the dramatic changes among black
teens, particularly Lmong girls. Since 1976 - and until this latest report
smoking had been declining among black teens while increasing for white
youths.

Health officials had believed that many black youths viewed smoking as "a
white thing," Ericksen said. He also said that past interviews with
teenagers indicated that black girls regarded smoking as a liability, which
makes them look trashy, unlike white girls, who think it makes them look
older and glamorous," Ericksen said.

But now, apparently, We are losing the only edge we had " he said. He
added: In 1976, there was no difference between blacks and whites. Then
there was this huge divergence, and now it has turned around, and we don't
know what happened."

Among white students, 51.5 percent of males and 40.8 percent of females
reported using cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco during the past
month, the study said.

Also, use of any tobacco product was higher among white high school
students - 46.8 percent - than Latinos - 36.8 percent - and black Americans
- - 29.4 percent,. the CDC said.

Cigarette smoking was highest among whites, at 39.7 percent, having
increased from 30.9 percent in 1991. For Utinos, smoking increased from
25.3 percent in 1991 to 34 percent last year.

About 1 in 5 students reported using cigars during the past month; an
estimated 3 in 10 male students used cigars, compared with about 1 in 10
female students, the agency said.

On another tobacco-related issue:

M Alarm raced through Washington yesterday on tobacco critics' claims that
R.J. Reynolds was pulling out of the proposed settlement with 40 states'
attorneys general that had formed the basis for congressional legislation.
But by afternoon, the company vehemently denied it planned to do so,

M Senator John McCain, RAriz., who authored a Senate bill designed to curb
tobacco use by teenagers and raise $506 of billion for the government,
warned that tobacco companies that don't cooperate with the legislation
could face less than pleasant" alternatives.

Congressional officials said privately that those alternatives could
include stiffer cigarette taxes and limits on how many cigarettes companies
can export overseas - their fastest-growing markets.