ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 16, 1996 TAG: 9612160096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
COMPANY MEMOS from 1970 to 1988 show how the country's largest tobacco company dug for data about smoking and buying habits of American youth.
Tobacco giant Philip Morris, which denies ever targeting children, used pollsters to quiz youngsters about their smoking habits in the 1970s, internal company documents show.
``True answers on smoking habits might be difficult to elicit in the presence of parents,'' said a June 12, 1970, memo to Philip Morris from Roper Researchers Associates of New York.
``We recommend interviewing young people at summer recreation centers (at beaches, public pools, lakes, etc.),'' Roper told Philip Morris. The target group was as young as 14, the memo says.
A series of company memos from 1970 to 1988 show how the country's largest tobacco company dug for data about smoking and buying habits of American youth.
The documents were given to the Richmond Times-Dispatch by plaintiff's lawyers who are suing the tobacco industry. Anti-smoking activists contend the studies support their charge that Philip Morris and other tobacco companies have spent decades studying the youth smoking market.
``These documents are the strongest evidence that Philip Morris was looking at children as a key to the Marlboro market,'' said Matthew Myers of the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Company officials deny the charge and say the leaking of internal memos is part of a lobbying effort to pressure the industry to settle the hundreds of lawsuits that have been filed against it.
Michael York, a Washington lawyer representing Philip Morris, dismissed the studies as old material released by anti-tobacco attorneys ``to influence judges and potential jurors.''
``The fact is, this company doesn't market to kids,'' he said.
In 1974, company pollsters tried to find out why competing brands, such as Kool, were slowing Marlboro's growth among young smokers.
A 1981 study investigated the link between pricing and smoking levels.
A 1988 report on ``Smoking Among High School Seniors'' suggested fewer youths were smoking in the early 1980s because participation in athletic programs was increasing.
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB