
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 5, 1994                   TAG: 9410050102
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

GROUPS SEEK REGULATION OF TOBACCO

Seventy-five health, consumer and religious groups announced Tuesday that they are beginning a national petition drive to encourage the enactment of a law that would require the regulation of tobacco by the Food and Drug Administration.

The groups are led by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and an anti-smoking organization, the Coalition on Smoking or Health, made up of the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.

The groups said their campaign was intended to counter the multimillion-dollar advertising campaign being run by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and the Philip Morris Companies. Recent R.J. Reynolds advertisements have asserted that government and anti-smoking interests are trying to prohibit tobacco in the United States.

Scott Ballin, chairman of the Coalition on Smoking or Health, said at a news conference, ``No one is advocating a ban, no one is talking about taking away any constitutionally guaranteed rights.''

Rather, he said, the petition drive is intended to have the FDA ``regulate tobacco without banning it,'' just as the agency regulates thousands of other products, ranging from orange juice to medicine. ``Tobacco manufacturers should have to follow sensible rules about the way they manufacture and market their products,'' Ballin said.

The petition drive will continue through mid-December. Signed petitions will be delivered to the president and members of Congress in January, Ballin said.

Other organizations in the 75-member group include the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the March of Dimes, the American Muslim Council and the Boston Women's Health Book Collective.

Among other requirements, the petition asks that the federal agency insure accurate measurement and disclosure of tar, nicotine and additives in cigarettes and the elimination of hazardous ingredients to the greatest extent possible.

The petition asks that the agency be made the enforcer of the law forbidding sale of tobacco products to anyone under 21. It also proposes the banning of tobacco advertising, or at least advertising that affects children.

by CNB