Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090070
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The tobacco giant began producing cigarette packs and cartons bearing the three-word warning on Tuesday, as part of its "Action Against Access" program aimed at curbing underage smoking.
The president's campaign, which may be announced today in North Carolina, stops short of adopting the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation that nicotine be regulated as an addictive drug.
Instead, Clinton says he is developing quick-fix measures and not a broad regulatory offensive that might spark paralyzing litigation.
In an interview with National Public Radio released by the White House on Tuesday, Clinton said he was weighing a collaborative effort by the government and the $50 billion-a-year cigarette industry to choke off the sale of an estimated 255 million packs a year illegally sold to Americans under 18.
``I think we need a tough and mandatory-type program,'' Clinton said. ``I believe we have to have some means of knowing that whatever we all agree to, whatever people say they're going to do, is done.''
Administration officials said Clinton plans an executive order to require that:
Purchasers of tobacco products show proof of age.
The nation's 400,000 unattended cigarette vending machines be located beyond the reach of young people.
Tobacco companies refrain from targeting teens in their annual $5 billion-a-year advertising campaigns.
Clinton was scheduled to travel to the heart of tobacco country today, where he might discuss his blueprint during a speech at the Progressive National Baptist Convention in Charlotte, N.C.
Rep. Thomas Bliley, R-Richmond, a longtime ally of the tobacco industry, said Monday on former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder's radio talk show, ``If he goes down there and makes that speech in Charlotte, I hope they've got a good security detail for him.''
On Tuesday, Bliley apologized to President Clinton, saying those remarks ``were inexcusable. Even though they were made in jest to a very close friend, the security of the president is no laughing matter,'' Bliley said. ``I sincerely apologize to the president, his family, and most of all to the people of Richmond.''
On Wilder's show, after Bliley's comment, Wilder laughed and replied: ``You sound like Jesse Helms. You don't want to sound like that.''
Last year, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., said Clinton would need a bodyguard to visit a North Carolina military base. Helms later said his remark was a mistake.
The president's campaign against tobacco use comes in the wake of a proposal by the FDA to regulate nicotine as a drug. An FDA advisory committee has concluded that nicotine is addictive.
Clinton's plan of action, however, does not call for having the FDA regulate nicotine as a drug, officials said.
Ellen Merlo, Philip Morris senior vice president for corporate affairs, said the timing of the company's announcement was coincidental.
"Philip Morris shares with many people, including the president, the commitment that minors should not smoke," Merlo said. She added that Clinton's idea of a mandatory federal program is "not the way we should go." Philip Morris announced the new labeling at a news conference Tuesday at its Richmond cigarette plant.
Packs of Marlboro Lights with the revised labels should arrive in stores in six to eight weeks, said spokeswoman Karen Daragan. New labels for other Philip Morris U.S.A. brands will be phased in by the end of the year.
Daragan said the New York-based company's efforts, which are voluntary, are intended to focus on access to tobacco products.
"Our goal is to create a marketplace where minors simply can't buy cigarettes anymore," she said.
Roanoke merchant Don Roy, owner of Milan Brothers Tobacconists, said he supports the plan. He has received posters and stickers that Philip Morris sent to retailers as part of the program's "Ask First/It's the Law" educational component.
"I'm all in favor of anything that will prohibit sales to minors," Roy said. The new packaging probably won't stop kids from trying to buy cigarettes, but it just might make retailers more sensitive to the fact that selling to minors is illegal, Roy said.
"Ask First/It's the Law" is designed to remind customers and retailers that sales to minors are illegal and to teach merchants how to spot fake identification.
In addition to discontinuing free cigarette samples, Philip Morris has pledged to work with retailers and state policymakers to pass state legislation that would require all cigarette retailers to be licensed and all vending machines to be supervised.
The proposed laws also would provide for sanctions, including fines and license suspensions, for retailers caught selling tobacco to minors.
"Philip Morris is passing the buck down to the retailers," said Bobby Sproles, owner of the two Bobby's Market stores in Bristol. "I'm not saying that the merchants don't have some responsibility. We do. But Philip Morris has been creating the problem all these years."
Sproles, who is organizing a merchants' association to fight the Philip Morris program, said that the only solution is to censure tobacco companies as well as retailers when a minor is caught buying cigarettes.
But other retailers contend that selling to underage smokers is the responsibility of the merchant.
"The retailers need to take most of the responsibility for it," said Susan Copenhaven, manager of a 7-Eleven store on Grandin Road in Roanoke. If merchants are willing to take the profits from selling tobacco products, then they also must be willing to accept the blame when sales go awry, she said.
"You can't blame [Philip Morris] - they're not out here selling the cigarettes," said Kathy Conner, manager of the Stop In Food Store on Roanoke's Memorial Avenue. "They can't keep people from buying cigarettes. ... It is kind of up to the retailers."
Staff writer Megan Schnabel, The Associated Press and Hearst Newspapers contributed information to this story.
by CNB