CLINTON PLAN COULD SLASH TEEN SMOKING TOBACCO

An ATF analysis predicts his cigarette tax increase of $1.10, other
initiatives could cut number by as much as 46%.

PHILADELPHIA--President Clinton released a report Friday predicting that
his plan to boost the cigarette tax by $1.10 a pack over the next five
years, combined with other initiatives, would slash the number of teenage
smokers by as much as 46%.

In remarks before the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science,
Clinton urged medical researchers to continue seeking cures for cancer
while policymakers do their part with legislation to curb tobacco use.

Clinton said his proposed price increases on cigarettes, coupled with
restrictions on advertising and sales displays, would help keep teenagers
from starting to smoke and prompt many of them to quit.

The analysis by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that such
policy changes would deter about 2.5 million young people from smoking over
the next five years and reduce teenage smoking by 39% to 46% by 2003,
according to administration officials.

"Let me tell you what that means in real people," Clinton said of the
expected drop. "That means if we act this year . . . we can stop almost 3
million young people from smoking and save almost 1 million lives."

Health advocates applauded the president's remarks but urged him to make
cigarettes even pricier.

"We shouldn't stop at $1.10," said Paul Billings, deputy director of
government relations for the American Lung Assn. "We should go to a
$2-per-pack increase, and we shouldn't stop at that-- but have regular,
stiff, significant increases in the per-pack tax every year thereafter."

"Today's 8-year-olds aren't going to be as impacted by the [$1.10] price
increase four years from now when they are 12 years old and starting to
smoke," Billings said.

Some of the smokers puffing away in the lobby of the hotel where the
president spoke disagreed on how much higher cigarette prices would affect
young smokers craving their next fix.

"Kids buy sneakers. They buy dope," said Christina Gilorteanu, a smoker
whose 17-year-old son has experimented with cigarettes. "A dollar is not
going to make a difference. They get money and they spend it."

Nancy Scott, tapping her cigarette on an ashtray, endorsed the president's
effort and said she believes higher prices will work.

"I personally think smoking is awful," Scott said. "I am willing to pay
more to keep others from doing this. There's probably a price that I
wouldn't be willing to pay for cigarettes, but I don't know how high that
price is."

The shoeshine man at the Philadelphia Marriott, former smoker Ghaganthian
Elo, said higher cigarette prices might prevent impulse purchases but
probably would not prompt those already addicted to quit, no matter what
their age.

"If the price of heroin goes up, you're still going to buy it if you're
hooked," he said. "It's like gas in the car. If the price goes up, what are
you going to do, stop buying gas?"

No matter how high cigarette prices go, Elo said he thankfully will not
suffer. He quit cigarettes last year after smoking for more than 40 years.

"I did it cold turkey," he said. "The president didn't make me do it. It
was those coughing attacks I used to get."

A tobacco industry representative said cigarette companies have no quarrel
with the new report but consider the proposed settlement between the
industry and states better than a higher cigarette tax.

Industry spokesman Scott Williams said higher cigarette prices will work
only when combined with some of the voluntary proposals advanced by the
tobacco industry, such as elimination of outdoor advertising.

In exchange for the ban on such ads, tobacco executives are asking Congress
to change the law to prohibit future class-action lawsuits and cap the
annual damages that the industry would have to pay to plaintiffs.

Such liability limits are a key sticking point to a deal, with the White
House and some congressional leaders increasingly reluctant to grant the
industry such broad legal protection.

In his speech, Clinton made a point of saying he would back responsible
tobacco initiatives from both Democrats and Republicans, part of his
administration's ongoing effort to try to avoid partisanship on the
sensitive issue.

"We think that there is genuine interest on both sides of the aisle in
passing comprehensive legislation, and we're going to work hard to keep
this from becoming a political football," said Bruce Reed, director of
domestic policy for the White House.

Copyright Los Angeles Times