AP on Public Citizen report

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

SEPTEMBER 09, 15:52 EDT

 Weak Overseas Tobacco Warns Cited


 WASHINGTON (AP) - American tobacco companies display a ``lethal double
standard'' when they
 sell cigarettes in developing countries that have less stringent health
warnings than those required by
 U.S. law, a consumers group said Wednesday.

 The Public Citizen Health Research Group, allied with consumer advocate
Ralph Nader, released a
 study showing that companies such as Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco provide
no more warning in
 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe than required by
local law.

 The study, compiled for Public Citizen by Dr. Peter Lurie, said most
cigarette labeling laws in
 developing countries are far weaker than those in the United States and
Western Europe. They also fail
 to uniformly warn that smoking can cause cancer, heart and lung disease and
should be avoided by
 pregnant women.

 At a news conference, Lurie argued that denying foreign smokers information
about the harmful effects
 of tobacco routinely made available to Americans may contribute to rising
rates of smoking in
 developing countries, as well as growing illness and death rates.

 ``American cigarette companies are practicing a lethal double standards,''
Lurie asserted.
 ``Non-Americans are being denied vital information available to U.S.
residents.''

 Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Tex., said the U.S. government bears some
responsibility for preventing
 American cigarettes from ``destroying the health of children around the
world.''

 Doggett is seeking support for legislation that would require U.S. tobacco
companies to adhere to the
 same labeling and marketing restrictions as those in the United States.

 As part of the attempt earlier this year to enact national tobacco
legislation, cigarette foes attempted to
 force U.S. companies to put the same warnings on brands sold abroad as
those sold here. But
 Congress killed the so-called national settlement, and prospects for
reviving it are dim.

 ``Every country has the responsibility to set its own policies on the sale
and marketing of products
 within its own borders,'' said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in a statement
read at the news
 conference. ``But as the world's leading exporter of tobacco products the
United States has the
 obligation to guarantee that its companies will behave responsibly no
matter where they do business.''