Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991 TAG: 9104140045
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
And when it comes to cigarettes, Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan doesn't mince words.
He refers to the "blood money" of tobacco companies that sponsor sports, and says he's "disgusted" those companies can legally align their products with the healthy image of athletes.
"It is immoral for civilized societies to condone the promotion and advertising of products which, when used as intended, cause disability and death," Sullivan told an audience in Columbus, Ohio, last week when he asked sports fans to consider boycotting tobacco company-sponsored events.
If Sullivan had his way, those fans would force tobacco companies out of sporting events and Virginia Slims wouldn't be sponsoring a tennis tournament on National Park Service land.
Also, smoking would be banned in federal buildings, and government lawyers would argue before the Supreme Court against tobacco companies for a ruling that could subject the industry to claims worth millions of dollars.
The White House has tolerated all this, though some officials initially thought Sullivan might be going too far in trying to force tobacco companies out of the stadiums and off the courts, playing fields and race tracks.
But those fears were calmed when Sullivan portrayed his message as personal and didn't make it appear the administration was backing a boycott, said a White House source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Sullivan wrote last week to the Washington Area Tennis Patrons Foundation urging it to reconsider the decision to have Virginia Slims sponsor a women's tennis tournament in August at a facility on National Park Service land in the nation's capital.
Philip Morris USA, which makes Virginia Slims cigarettes, said Sullivan's attempt to oust the company from the sport it has sponsored for two decades was unjust and that his plea for sports fans not to attend industry-sponsored events wouldn't work.
"Our sponsorship of Virginia Slims tennis demonstrates Philip Morris' support of professional women's tennis," said company spokesman Les Zuke.
Sullivan has also lobbied the Interior Department, which includes the National Park Service, to keep the tobacco company off public land.
He and Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan have discussed it, but Lujan spokesman Steven Goldstein said last week the department's hands were tied, for this year at least. The park service has an agreement with the tennis foundation to use the facility, and the foundation has contracted with Virginia Slims.
Sullivan's bid to prohibit smoking in all executive branch offices is so far unsuccessful but still alive, administration sources said. He's revising his proposal in an effort to forge a consensus within the Cabinet, according to a White House source.
Sullivan also is trying to get the Justice Department to join the family of a New Jersey woman who died of lung cancer in arguing before the Supreme Court against the tobacco industry in a dispute over the dangers of smoking.
Some in the administration, however, want the government to stay out of the case over whether federal law shields cigarette companies from claims they don't give smokers adequate warnings about health hazards.
Sullivan's anti-smoking stand isn't a new one, according to some who knew him before he joined the Bush administration.
"He's always believed that your quality of life starts with you, what you put into your body," said lawyer Raymond Cotton, a friend of Sullivan's since the late 1970s.
Sullivan also appears to practice what he preaches: He doesn't attend sports events sponsored by tobacco companies. He also wants nothing to tarnish the image he portrays as the nation's chief health official: He told his candidate for assistant secretary for public affairs she would have to quit smoking if she wanted the job. She did.
by CNB