Brazil Clamps Down on Smoking (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

                          May 28, 1998
 Brazil Declares 'War' On
 Smoking

 Dow Jones Newswires

 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)--With smoking on the rise
 among poorer and younger Brazilians, the government
 declared "war" on tobacco, pledging tougher restrictions
 on advertising and smoking in public.

 Health Minister Jose Serra spoke at a ceremony
 Thursday to launch the World Health Organization's
 annual "World No-Tobacco Day," to be celebrated on
 Sunday.

 President Fernando Henrique Cardoso plans to prohibit
 cigarette advertising on television before 11 p.m., Serra
 said. The ads currently are banned until 9 p.m.

 Brazil also will put teeth in a 1997 law that bans smoking
 in enclosed public places. Serra said the government will
 push for fines and even temporary closure of
 establishments such as theaters and shopping malls that
 don't comply with the code.

 Tobacco is big business in Brazil, the world's largest
 exporter of the leaf and its third-largest producer.
 Brazil's 30 million smokers comprise the sixth-largest
 market for cigarettes. Brazil's are among the cheapest
 in the world.




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