WANTED, YOUNG SMOKERS

The latest trove of internal documents from the American tobacco industry
provides the strongest evidence yet that the industry was not only
targeting very young smokers, it was doing so with the approval of high
corporate officials. Even in a business renowned for its lack of social
conscience, the cynicism is breathtaking.

Congress will need to look skeptically at proposals to grant immunity to
the industry for its reckless behavior as part of an overall tobacco
settlement. The case may be getting stronger for a straightforward
crackdown, with or without a negotiated deal.

The documents, which were pried loose by a lawsuit settlement in
California, come from the files of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.,
America's second-largest cigarette maker. Realizing that most smokers get
the habit beforethey are 18 years old andtendto stick with their first
brand, the companytriedthroughthe 1970sand 1980s to woo smokers as young as
14.

Although company officials have testified under oath that they did not go
after underage smokers, several documents suggest the opposite. A 1976
10-year planning f.orecast presented to the board of directors called for a
new brand for children as young as 14, and a 1980 memo to the company
chairman called for reversing the company's decline among youngsters from
14 to 17. Repeated surveys assessed the smoking habits of young teenagers.
Other memos describe the age group between 14 and 24 as "tomorrow's
cigarette business" and vital to the company's long-term prosperity and
survival.

The new documents increase the pressure to crack down harshly on this rogue
industry, either in the context of an overall tobacco settlement or through
separate legislation aimed at strengthening legal and regulatory tools to
combat youth smoking.

The Justice Department will need to determine whether perjury charges are
warranted against high corporate officials, a legal crowbar that could
prove every bit as effective as liability suits in prodding the industry
toward more responsible behavior.

If the long-stalled tobacco deal is to move forward in Congress, it seems
clear that the penalties to be imposed on the industry if it fails to
reduce youth smoking need to be much harsher.
---THE NEW YORK TIMES.