ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 16, 1996 TAG: 9611180062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Attorney General Jim Gilmore's decision to support a tobacco industry lawsuit trying to block federal restrictions on cigarette advertising has come under attack by anti-smoking activists.
Gilmore's friend-of-the-court brief in the case, filed Oct. 31 but not disclosed until Wednesday, also was criticized by Lt. Gov. Don Beyer.
Beyer is the likely Democratic candidate for governor next year; Gilmore is the likely GOP nominee.
``I think what the attorney general is doing is wrong,'' Beyer said Thursday. ``He is opposing the best efforts to keep cigarettes away from children.''
Ted Glickman, a spokesman with the American Lung Association of Virginia, said Gilmore's position politicizes a health issue.
Glickman pointed to a government report released this month showing that more than 5 million of today's underage smokers could eventually die because of tobacco-related illnesses.
Tobacco is worth $175 million a year to Virginia farming, making it the state's No.1 cash crop. Virginia's tobacco manufacturing industry makes products worth $5 billion annually.
Gilmore said the proposed federal regulation would hurt Virginia's economy.
But Beyer, while saying he isn't hostile to tobacco, said he backs Food and Drug Administration regulation of nicotine in the crop as a way of giving the agency control over cigarette advertising aimed at young people.
The case, brought by cigarette maker Philip Morris and others, is before the U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C. It also has drawn support from the nation's top two tobacco-producing states, North Carolina and Kentucky.
In an August poll, 69 percent of Virginians said they favored restrictions on tobacco ads to curb teen smoking, and 55 percent said the government should regulate nicotine as a drug.
``The FDA regulations would only restrict sales to youth,'' said Carter Steger, a spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society's Virginia division.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says 9,000 Virginians die each year of smoking-related illnesses, with medical costs totaling more than $800 million.
Tobacco industry officials contend that FDA regulations won't affect the behavior of teen-agers and that the agency lacks the authority to regulate tobacco.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB