Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 24, 1990 TAG: 9005240412
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Sullivan was to present his proposal at a Senate Finance Committee hearing today, said the sources, who spoke on the condition they not be identified.
"It will be a proposal for the states to review" and decide upon, and Sullivan will not propose new federal legislation, said one source.
Another source said the secretary will propose that retailers be licensed to sell cigarettes.
Forty-four states and the District of Columbia prohibit the sale of cigarettes to children, but the laws are widely unenforced.
On May 16, the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee approved a $110 million program aimed at encouraging states to enforce laws against the sale of cigarettes to minors, including restrictions on vending machines. The Bush administration in February called the legislation unnecessary.
A study in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association estimated annual cigarette sales to youths under age 18 at 947 million packs and revenues at $1.23 billion, about 3.3 percent of all tobacco sales.
Nearly 19 percent of high school seniors smoke daily - 11 percent of them more than a half pack a day - according to an annual survey of high school seniors by the National Institute on Drug Abuse's annual survey of high school seniors.
Surveys have also shown that the vast majority of adult smokers started in their teen years.
Sullivan has made anti-smoking issues one of his top priorities at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Cigarettes, the department says, cause about 390,000 premature deaths annually from lung cancer, heart disease and other cardiovascular disorders.
by CNB