From: [C upi] at [clari.net] (UPI / LORI SANTOS) Newsgroups: clari.usa.gov.white_house,clari.biz.industry.health.pharma,clari.news.issues.smoking,clari.news.front_page Subject: Clinton authorizes FDA to regulate tobacco Keywords: US government, US federal, politics, agriculture, tobacco industry, social issues, smoking Organization: Copyright 1996 by United Press International Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 12:50:48 PDT WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- President Clinton authorized a new federal rule restricting the sale and advertising of tobacco to minors and defended the move Friday as ``the right thing to do -- scientifically, legally and morally.'' In an announcement that drew strong criticism from tobacco-growing states and advertisers, Clinton said the plans for the Food and Drug Administration to step into the regulation of tobacco was needed to stop the estimated 3,000 young people who begin smoking and become addicted each day. ``With this historic action we are taking today, Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man will be out of our children's reach forever,'' Clinton said at a sweltering Rose Garden ceremony. ``We have carefully considered the evidence. It is clear that the action being taken today is the right thing to do -- scientifically, legally and morally.'' The move culminated a year-long effort begun last August when Clinton proposed the federal rules that generated an unprecedented public reaction, with the FDA receiving more than 700,000 responses. RJ Reynolds Tobacco said it was ``questionable'' whether adding FDA oversight would make the federal government more effective or more efficient. ``While it is appropriate for the federal government to provide direction on the issue of underage smoking, the states should be responsible for implementation,'' a statement by the company said. ``Today there are more than 225 federal government agencies and offices spending over $100 million to review, oversee or control the tobacco industry. Another tobacco company, Brown & Williamson said the rule was ``aimed ultimately at banning cigarettes.'' ``Brown & Williamson continues to believe that involvement by the U. S. Food & Drug Administration in regulating tobacco products is unlawful and is not required to address the youth access issue,'' the company said. ``Not only are the FDA's planned advertising restrictions blatantly unconstitutional, but these restrictions will not keep tobacco products away from youth. Surveys have repeatedly shown that peer pressure and families are the principal influences on the decision to smoke. A consortium of advertisers have had a lawsuit pending for most of the year in federal court in North Carolina, and a spokesman said Friday the group hoped for a quick resolution. Hal Shoup, executive vice president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, decried the decision as a clear violation of the First Amendment. ``We have, and we will continue to oppose any regulatory or legislative restriction on the truthful advertising of any legal product,'' Shoup said. Clinton's announcement was impeccably timed to coincide with the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and had the further benefit of pushing less favorable news about increasing drug use among young people from the front pages. Earlier, spokesman Mike McCurry acknowledged that Clinton's intervention in the process was unusual in that presidents do not routinely approve proposed rules and the Office of Management and Budget usually gives federal agencies the go-ahead to put rules into effect. ``Given the significance and the historic nature of this decision, it was proper for the president to review the OMB analysis,'' McCurry said. McCurry denied that anything other than concern for the health of children motivated the president and the federal agencies involved, which moved with alacrity to approve the regulation, though the deadline fell after the November election. Praise for the move was widespread, as the American Medical Association, the American Heart and Lung associations, the American Cancer Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids headed a slew of health and children's groups voicing support. William Novelli, president of the national center, hailed it as ``the first national policy in history that stops tobacco companies from marketing their deadly products to our children.'' The FDA rules, which will be phased in beginning in six months, will require all tobacco sales to be made through ``face-to-face transactions,'' and require cigarette retailers to verify the buyer's age with a photograph identification card. The proposal also would require the FDA to prohibit any new cigarette brand names that are taken from other products; permit only corporate names rather than cigarette brand names as sponsors of sporting events; ban outdoor cigarette advertising near schools; and limit other outdoor ads and ads in publications with youth readerships to black-and-white, text-only formats. It also requires ads to describe cigarettes as a ``nicotine-delivery device;'' ban the sale or giveaway of items such as caps or gym bags that carry a tobacco brand name; and create a $150 million per year industry-funded educational program. The FDA rule also threatens additional measures if youth smoking is not reduced by 50 percent within a seven-year period. Joe Lockhart, press secretary for the Clinton-Gore campaign, quickly weighed in questioning whether GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole would ``stand with the president ... or will he stand with his friends in the tobacco lobby who have done so much for his campaign over the years.'' Critics, including the powerful tobacco lobby, had fought the effort to bring the regulatory effort under the auspices of the FDA, which regulates addictive drugs such as nicotine and the products that deliver them. And besides harsh criticism from lawmakers the past week from the states facing lost revenues, tobacco interests also raised concerns that the move was just an opening salvo and would be followed up by efforts to regulate cigarette sales for adults as well. Donna Shalala, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, denied such an effort was in the works. The new rules, however, will face a stiff challenge in court, with opponents of the advertising restrictions relying heavily on a landmark Supreme Court decision in May that struck down Rhode Island's effort to ban advertising the prices of alcoholic beverages. The high court ruled that truthful advertising cannot be banned when the underlying activity, the sale of the product, is not also banned. In a parallel case, the Supreme Court also summarily threw out a lower court ruling that supported Baltimore's ban on many types of outdoor cigarette advertising.