TOBACCO GIANTS WON'T SCALE BACK ADS WITHOUT LAWSUIT PROTECTIONS

Execs want a shield in exchange for curbs

WASHINGTON - Executives of five major tobacco companies, adopting a
confrontational tone, have told the Senate that their companies would not
agree to curtail advertising unless Congress grants them some protection
against lawsuits.

Steven Goldstone, chief executive officer of RJR Nabisco Inc., parent
company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., told senators Tuesday that
communicating to customers through advertising was critical and invaluable
and that he would have to "assert my First Amendment right" to advertise
unless Congress agreed to shield the industry from legal liability.

Legal experts say Congress cannot force the tobacco industry to limit its
advertising because such restrictions would violate free speech rights
guaranteed under the First Amendment. To overcome that constitutional bar,
Congress is weighing whether to offer liability protection as a sweetener
to induce the tobacco firms to waive those rights.

The tobacco companies want Congress to protect them from past punitive
damages and future class action lawsuits filed by sick smokers. Geoffrey
Bible, chief executive officer of Philip Morris Companies Inc., the
nation's largest tobacco company, testified that he would be "obliged out
of responsibility to stockholders" to continue cigarette advertising unless
Congress granted liability protection.

The tobacco company CEOs were testifying before the Senate Commerce,
Science and Transportation Committee.

The major tobacco companies agreed in a June settlement with 40 state
attorneys general, public health organizations and plaintiffs' lawyers to
restrict cigarette advertising attractive to teens if Congress settled
existing lawsuits and shielded them from future class-action lawsuits.
Under the settlement, which must be approved by Congress, tobacco companies
would also pay $368.5 billion to reimburse states' costs of treating sick
smokers and fund anti-smoking programs.