Thursday, April 9, 1998
Congress tackles tobacco ads targeting children
HEALTH: Cigarette firms may have to answer for high teen smoking
rates
By Catherine Turner
Daily Bruin Contributor
Controversy between the tobacco industry and Congress has the
UCLA community divided between the liberties of capitalism and the
protection of teenagers.
After decades of hiding evidence of the harmful effects of
smoking and advertising towards America’s youth, the tobacco
industry is being forced to change things.
Last summer, 40 states, led by Mississippi, filed a lawsuit
against the tobacco industry for knowingly harming Americans by
retaining vital information concerning the health impact of
cigarettes and deliberately targeting teenagers through their
advertisements.
The states won an original $365 billion agreement from the
industry, but that has been declared void because Congress feels it
is inadequate. A new bill has recently passed through the Senate
committee that, among other goals, will meet President Bill
Clinton’s latest efforts to cut down teen smoking and reverse the
harm done by the tobacco industry.
The bill, rejected by all five tobacco industries, is ultimately
meant to cut back teenage smoking by forcing tobacco industries to
follow strict health and advertisement guidelines and initiate
programs to discourage teens from smoking.
The industries would face harsh financial penalties if they do
not succeed in reducing teenage smoking.
"Reducing smoking has always been America’s bottom line. It must
be the industry’s bottom line," Clinton said.
Concern about the objectives of tobacco advertisements are not
new and certainly not restricted to youth.
Virginia Slims appeals to women’s desire to be "slim,"
attractive and independent, while Marlboro’s "cowboy"
advertisements are geared towards men’s desire to be virile and
strong, according to Susan Ward, a health educator in the Health
Education Office in Student Health Services.
Although adults face the adverse effects from smoking and are
also lured in by attractive advertisements, citizens feel that the
government’s responsibility should be geared towards minors who are
often not prepared to make well-informed decisions.
"We have a right and obligation to protect children from
advertising," said political science professor James Desveaux. "It
is like having to be in school. It is in the best interest of the
child to be literate."
"Teen smoking has everything to do with media and advertising,"
Ward added. "Advertisements are meant to make teens think that if
they smoke they will be cool and independent."
A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention revealed staggering statistics about teen smoking.
Half of all male teenagers and one- third of all female
teenagers have used cigars, cigarettes or smokeless tobacco in the
last month. Eighty percent of adult smokers started smoking before
the age of 18.
Under the proposed bill, cigarette prices will go up $1.10 in
five years and make the industry liable to pay over $500 billion
over a course of 25 years to help states recover the costs of
smoking-related illnesses.
The bill also retracts Congress’ original promise to protect the
tobacco industry from further civil liability.
Although many people agree that the tobacco industry should not
have geared its advertisements toward children, some also feel that
the industry is not responsible for lessening teen smoking.
"The tobacco industry should just stop advertising towards
teenagers, not work against themselves. Why would a cheese company
tell consumers that consumption of their product causes clogged
arteries?" said Sarah Hockman, a first-year psychology student.
Surgeons’ general warnings of the dangers of cigarette smoking
are already on each pack of cigarettes, and like Hockman, some
people feel that the industry should only have to go so far.
"We are already reminded of the dangers of smoking. We should
not encourage smoking, but we should definitely ease up on
restrictions," said A. Kornonski, a political science
professor.
"It has gone too far," he added in regard to the current
political and social controversy surrounding smoking.
With its hundred-billion-dollar obligation and lack of adequate
protection from lawsuits, the current bill threatens to drive all
five industries to bankruptcy.
Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco industries Chief Executive Martin
Broughton said that the industries will not accept the bill in its
current form and that there does not seem to be any motion from
Congress to favorably readjust it.
"There are a series of things … which clearly demonstrate
that, actually, the only thing behind this is to drive us all out
of business," Broughton said.
Feelings on the UCLA campus parallel the myriad views Americans
possess, but despite the broad range, nobody, besides the tobacco
industry, wants children to start smoking.
Members of Congress, some of whom might have supported the
tobacco industry if it was not so close to elections, want to
maintain and establish the support of Americans.
"The bill will get passed through Congress, partly because there
is an election," Desveaux predicted. "No one wants to be seen as
the party that ruled in favor of the tobacco industries."
The bill was passed through the committee with a vote of 20-1
last week.