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OCR Page 1 of 25Tobacco- state settlement
Today's debate: Tobacco settlement
New 8-state deal derails
plans to cut teen smoking
OUR VIEW
Attorneys general
abandon mean-
Getting hooked
ingful goals, go for money grab.
Eight states - Washington, New York, California,
Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Colorado, North
Once again, several states and the tobacco
Carolina and North Dakota - are in settlement
industry are playing let's make a multibillion-
talks with the tobacco industry. Meanwhile, the
ranks of teen smokers have skyrocketed.
dollar deal. And once again, it looks like the
Number of new
cigarette companies are calling the shots.
1.2
daily teen smokers
Eight state attorneys general are crafting a
(in millions)
$198-billion deal to settle the remaining three
1.23
dozen state lawsuits against tobacco firms.
0.8
Those suits seek to recoup the enormous costs
smoking imposes on public health programs.
0.4
0.71
Last year, a different set of attorneys general
with loftier ambitions than profit led the talks.
They were among the first to challenge the in-
0
dustry in court and wanted to use the leverage
'88
'93
'96
of those suits to force the industry to stop tar-
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
geting teen-age smokers. Even so, clever tobac-
USA TODAY
co lawyers dangling boatloads of money man-
nancial interest to cut teen smoking rates by
aged to blow holes in the public health
harshly penalizing them if rates don't fall fast
provisions. When Congress tried to plug them,
enough. The industry hates it, for obvious rea-
the industry walked, and the deal collapsed.
sons, and watered it down to the point of mean-
Four of the leading states involved in that
inglessness last summer. This time the at-
1997 deal have since settled. And the industry
torneys general apparently aren't even
took care this time to select the weak sisters
bothering to try.
from the remaining states for talks. This group
Nor are they trying to get the industry to give
has given up any pretense of seeking real public
up its opposition to Food and Drug Adminis-
health gains. All they see are the dollar signs.
tration (FDA) regulation of tobacco.
The latest plan calls for $198 billion in in-
The attorneys general say they're boxed in
dustry payments to states over 25 years. That's
by recent legal and congressional setbacks. The
certainly an impressive figure to money-
courts ruled against the FDA's authority over
hungry state legislators. From a health stand-
the industry in August. And without federal
point, however, it's all but meaningless, trans-
legislation, they say, the toughest provisions of
lating into a mere 35-cent boost in cigarette
the last deal can't be replicated.
prices. Not even price-sensitive teen smokers
What's really happening, however, is that the
would notice the difference. And that's assum-
eight states are less interested in using the lever
ing the industry passes the costs onto smokers,
they have in hand to deter smoking than they
which the deal wouldn't require.
are in collecting cash. That's an ideal scenario
Other provisions appear equally unimpres-
for the industry, which sees the lawsuits as a
sive. As it stands, the plan contains no mean-
costly, unpredictable menace - one it would
ingful restrictions on youth access to cigarettes.
love to clear off in a single swoop.
And its advertising and marketing limits would
With settlement talks reportedly on recess
give the industry plenty of room to peddle to-
until next week. the states should take the time
bacco to another generation of smokers.
to awaken from their money-induced slumbers
Worse, there's no "look-back" provision -
and stand firm against a bogus deal.
arguably the most promising public health pro-
If they sign onto this plan, the tobacco com-
posal to emerge from the June 1997 settlement.
panies will simply eat the costs and go right on
The idea is to give the tobacco companies a fi-
recruiting new armies of teen smokers.
USA TODAY MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1998
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