WP Editorial -- Big Tobacco Abroad (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

                  Big Tobacco Abroad

                  Monday, July 13, 1998; Page A20 

                  ONE CASUALTY OF the Senate's failure to pass
anti-tobacco legislation
                  is the absence of any controls on Big Tobacco's
marketing overseas. The
                  cigarette industry has been seeking a stable platform
here from which to
                  wage its foreign marketing campaign. A national tobacco
settlement would
                  have provided such a platform, but it also could have
funded some
                  anti-smoking education overseas and held U.S. tobacco
companies to the
                  same marketing standards abroad that they would have to
meet here. Now
                  the firms are free of any such restrictions. 

                  The consequences certainly will be deadly. Many men but
few women in
                  developing countries smoke, but with sophisticated
marketing campaigns
                  featuring female pop stars, giveaways of stylish
lighters and relentless
                  advertising, the tobacco companies are trying to change
that situation. If
                  trends hold, more and more young girls and women in poor
countries will
                  begin to smoke, and over the next generation, a quarter
of a billion will die
                  prematurely as a result. 

                  A collection of public health and anti-tobacco
organizations, including the
                  Center for Communications, Health and the Environment
and the American
                  Cancer Society, will sponsor a meeting on this subject
on Capitol Hill on
                  Thursday. They are calling for the U.S. government to
make clear that it
                  will no longer support tobacco marketing overseas, as
its trade officials
                  have for too long. They also support legislation, such
as that introduced by
                  Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, that would provide some
funding for public
                  health education overseas, to at least partly counter
cigarette advertising; 
                  prohibit U.S. companies from marketing to children
anywhere; and call on
                  Big Tobacco to include the same warnings on the
cigarette packs it exports
                  as on those it sells here. 

                  These are modest proposals that could be enacted whether
or not
                  Congress approves the misnamed "global" settlement on
smoking. They
                  would at least go a short way to undoing the terrible
damage U.S. tobacco
                  companies will be inflicting on foreign countries in
coming years. 

                           © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company