Tobacco Documents Online

A6 TUESDAY. SEPTEMBER 5. 1995 A Gannen Ne.spspe. THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER EDITORIAL BOARD: HARRY M. WHIPPLE President cnd Publisher LAWRENCE K. BEAUPRE Edimr, Vice President PETER W. BRONSON Associate Editor LINDA CAGNETTI Depury editor JIM BORGMAN Editorial carurnn isr TONY LANG Editorial writer RAY COOKLIS Editorial writer Smoke signals Teen smoking is already illegal Bill Clinton lit a match to the tobacco industry in early August, let- ting the Food and Drug Administra- tion regulate nicotine as a drug. But so far, the president is just blowing smoke. Instead of working with Congress and the industry on strong laws to attack teen smoking, Clinton opted for a roll-your-0wn edict giving the FDA and its busybody commissioner. Dr. David Kessler, unprecedented author- ity to control tobacco. Clinton may have scored political points, as he shored up the threatened FDA with a new morality crusade to hold back budget cuts, but his solution is likely to get stomped like a smolder- ing butt on a busy sidewalk. The tobacco industry immediately filed a lawsuit that could keep the Clinton plan bogged down in the courts for years. Some lawmakers, inyuding many Democrats from tobacco states, are urging Clinton to take the legislative route. A few, such as Lt. Gov. Paul Patton, Kentucky's Democratic candi- date for governor, have threatened to abandon Clinton's re-election bid if he sticks to his FDA gambit. Clinton should listen. Few disagree with his goal - to eventually save 1,000 lives a day by keeping American kids away from the cigarette habiL But many see FDA regulation as more bureaucratic intrusion into people's lives and a step toward a foolish prohibition of tobacco. "I agree with a lot of what the president wants Dr. Kessler to do." said Rep. Charlie Rose. D-N.C., who earlier proposed a binding agreement with industry to curb teen smoking. "I just don't want Dr. Kessler to do it." Meanwhile, the $50 billion-a-year industry is fighting back. It forced ABC News to apologize to Philip Moms Co. and R.J. Reynolds for reporting tlta.t the companies ma- nipulated the level of nicotine in ciga- rettes. The network didn't prove its claim, ABC lawy!rs concluded. Now Rep. Henry Waxman. D-Calif.. has challenged Philip Morris to re- lease its documents on nicotine levels, and ABC faces a class-action lawsuit to force it to reL.ase the papers. Still, such legal maneuvering is be- side the point. Cigarettes are addictive. The indus- try knows it. The government knows it. Adults know it. Teens know it. And the evidence of the harm they : do keeps pouring in. Smokers are live times as likely to ' suffer heart attacks in their 30s and 40s, according t:) a new Oxford Uni- versity study. ""1`hose who get addict- ed in their teen-a ge years are the ones ! who have the highest risk of having an ! early heart attack." said researcher ; Richard Peto. The goal is to keep cigarettes out of kids' hands. Lct's start by enforcing the laws already on the books. According to ~ new Indiana Univer- sity survey, 79.1 percent of adults had : rarely or never seen a sales clerk check the ID of a young person buying cigarettes. Only 42.8 percent believe tobacco laws are enforced consistent-'ly. A plan advanced by Rose and Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., would require cigarette makers to finance the en- forcement of :Rates' minimum-age smoking laws amd clamp down on vendors who sell to minors. But public edt.cation and awareness is already reducing smoking without a new bureaucracy or a crusade to turn tobacco into an Ilegal drug. Teens know !moking is dangerous. It's already against the law. And those who forget the laws and the risks should be reminied by their parents. Let's enforce the laws we have before rushing toi light up more.