[Intl-tobacco] WPost: Smoke and Mirrors - on US at FCTC

[Robert Weissman]

Smoke and Mirrors - Washington Post

Sunday, May 13, 2001

Editorial

THE U.S. tobacco industry, facing declining opportunities at home, is
looking to addict new customers overseas. The Clinton administration,
recognizing the lives and economies that could be wrecked as a result, was
working with other nations on a treaty to control tobacco use and
advertising. Now the Bush administration seems to be backing away from this
sensible U.S. commitment. The tobacco giants must be delighted.

Among much else, the administration is reported to have tried during recent
negotiations on the treaty to delete a provision calling on governments to
tax up the price of tobacco to discourage use, and another urging them to
ban marketing terms like "light" or "mild" that convey a false impression of
reduced risks. The administration likewise sought to ease provisions calling
for the licensing of retailers as a way of reducing sales to minors, and for
bans on smoking in places of work and public buildings.

The head of the U.S. delegation to the talks was quoted as saying that the
administration "really is committed to making this . . . an effective . . .
agreement," but its apparent efforts to weaken the text point in the
opposite direction. The backing away from the treaty follows indications
that the administration may also drop a Clinton-era lawsuit seeking damages
from the companies for the harm to public health they wittingly did and
failed to disclose in selling their products in the past. The lawsuit was
one of a number of efforts -- state, federal and private -- meant to pinch
the companies' U.S. operations. It is in part to escape that pinch that the
companies are seeking new markets abroad. The World Health Organization
predicts a sharp increase in tobacco-related disease because of that
expansion.

A strong international agreement could help curtail the sales and disease
alike. U.S. tobacco use could likewise be reduced if the product received
the regulation it deserves. The tobacco industry gave heavily to the Bush
campaign and to other Republican causes in hope of avoiding such regulation.
So far it would seem to have no cause for disappointment.