DEMOCRATS ON TRACK WITH TOBACCO BILL

THE ANTI-TOBACCO bill unveiled yesterday by Vice President Al Gore and a
number of Democratic senators carries with it real potential to finally
reduce teenage smoking.

The provision that makes the measure by Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota
so strong would impose harsh monetary penalties on the tobacco companies
for failing to meet a goal to reduce teenage smoking by 67 percent over 10
years. At 40 cents per pack on individual companies that fail to meet the
goal, the penalties are five times what they were in the tentative
settlement reached last June with cigarette manufacturers.

Each day, 3,000 teenagers now light up their first cigarette, and a sharp
reduction in that figure would go a long way toward saving lives.

Much of the contentiousness surrounding the settlement debate has centered
on the need to regulate advertising, promotion and marketing aimed at
teenagers. Industry documents confirm that teenagers as young as 14 were
targeted by cigarette makers and resulted in campaigns using appeal ing,
cartoon characters such as Joe Camel.

The Food and Drug Administration wants to regulate tobacco sales, marketing
and advertising, and the Conrad bill would give the FDA that authority.
However, there is division among legal scholars as to whether tobacco
advertising and marketing enjoy full First Amendment protections that would
prevent Congress or the FDA from intervening. A federal judge in North
Carolina ruled against the FDA on just that issue.

Because of the force of the financial penalties in Conrad's bill, the
debate over who has authority to regulate tobacco advertising could be
moot. Cigarette makers are going to have to substantially curb
teenage-targeted promotions if they are to avoid the penalties, thus giving
the penalties built-in restrictions on advertising and marketing. Conrad's
bill is also much preferred over the settlement because it does not make
the giant concession of giving the tobacco industry immunity from future
class-action suits.

The measure, which would raise $500 billion over 25 years, also would
impose a $1.50 a pack tax on cigarettes, require full disclosure of tobacco
company documents, set up smoke-free environments in most public places and
help work against international promotion of tobacco.

The bill is the best hope yet for lessening tobacco's deadly hold on Americans.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A24