Tuesday, January 2, 1995

Citing the chilling fact that more than 3,000 American children begin smoking each day, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today led 27 other state Attorneys General in supporting proposed federal regulations aimed at reducing access and limiting the appeal of tobacco products to children.

"These proposed regulations by the FDA strike at the tobacco industry's strategy to lure children into the deadly habit of smoking and chewing tobacco by hooking them with slick advertising and free tobacco products that eventually make them nicotine addicts," Blumenthal said.

"The tobacco companies reel them in at the alarming rate of more than a million new underage, addicted smokers each year. These young smokers are following a path to cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and other serious illnesses, all while fattening the bottom lines of tobacco industry companies," Blumenthal said.

"The pitches and promotions are part of a calculated scheme to start our children smoking so by the time they're adults, they're nicotine addicts who can't stop smoking several packs of cigarettes a day. The statistics are staggering: 90 percent of smokers report that they began smoking as teenagers. Some 20 million Americans try to quit smoking each year, but only three percent of them succeed in kicking the habit."

Blumenthal and the other 27 Attorneys General filed official comments today with Dr. David Kessler, Commissioner of Food & Drugs at the FDA, supporting the agency's entire package of proposed regulations. They also highlighted several points in the regulations that deserve particular emphasis:

Restricting and marketing of tobacco products to children. The tobacco industry spent more than $4.6 billion in advertising and promoting tobacco products in 1991, much of it appealing directly to children. That appears to explain why the three most heavily advertised brands have captured 86-percent of the illegal teen market when the same brands' share of the legal, adult market is only 35 percent.

Restricting tobacco sponsorship of sporting and entertainment events. This type of sponsorship has been used effectively to avoid the federal ban on broadcast advertising, and to advertise tobacco products on the types of televised events that particularly appeal to teenagers and young adults.

"This clever, backhanded device enables tobacco companies to get their products' names and logos flashed across the television screen even though cigarette and smokeless tobacco commercials have been banned from television," Blumenthal said.

Prohibiting the sale or distribution of all non-tobacco items that are identified with a cigarette or smokeless tobacco product brand name or other identifying characteristic. Studies have shown that these items, such as T-shirts, hats and sporting goods have widespread appeal among young people. When teenagers and children wear these items, they become "walking billboards" which can come into schools and other places where tobacco advertising is prohibited.

Requiring purchasers of tobacco products to produce positive identification before making a purchase and eliminate marketing practices that provide young people with easy access to tobacco, including sale of single cigarettes, sale by vending machines, self-service displays and free samples of tobacco products. These measures will greatly assist efforts by the state Attorneys Generals to enforce compliance with existing state laws that prohibit the sale or distribution of tobacco products to minors. Blumenthal has pressed for similar initiatives on the state level.

Preventing the proposed regulation from preempting more stringent state or local requirements relating to the sale, distribution, labeling, advertising or use of tobacco products that do not conflict with the federal regulation. A cooperative, combined effort by federal, state and local authorities is critical to reduce access and limit the appeal of tobacco products to children. In order to succeed, state and local officials must retain their ability to enact and enforce laws they believe are most effective.

The states and territory joining Connecticut in the letter of support for the proposed regulations were Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington, which joined in drafting the letter, and Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

In 1994, many of the Attorneys General from these states participated in a National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) working group to study the problem of illegal tobacco sales to minors. The group issued recommendations for legislation and voluntary steps retailers could take to curb illegal tobacco sales in a report entitled, "No Sale: Youth, Tobacco and Responsible Retailing."