Cigarette makers
OK $206 billion
settlement
Hawaii could join other states
From staff and wire reports
to be included in the deal
reached by eight statesWASHINGTON -- Cigarette makers have agreed to a $206 billion settlement of state lawsuits that would prohibit tobacco companies from advertising on billboards, city buses and those T-shirts so popular with teen-agers. But the deal falls short of an earlier agreement that died in Congress.
"It's time to stop the legal bickering and move the tobacco fight out of the courthouse and into the streets," Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire said today.
Eight state attorneys general reached the proposed deal with tobacco companies after months of negotiation, and have sent the proposal to all other states in hopes they, too, will join in. Thirty-nine states, including Hawaii, are now suing the tobacco industry to recover Medicaid money spent treating sick smokers, but seven others that have not sued the industry are eligible to join the settlement also.
Officials in the Hawaii attorney general's office could not be immediately reached for comment today. But last month, Attorney General Margery Bronster said she favors the settlement that was then being negotiated for all the states by the attorneys general for Washington, California, New York, North Carolina, Colorado, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Pennsylvania.
Hawaii can sign onto that deal and receive "hundreds of millions of dollars," Bronster had said.
Otherwise, the state can go ahead with its own lawsuit, which is scheduled for trial on Sept. 7, 1999, she said. Hawaii could receive more than $879 million if the state settles its lawsuit against the tobacco industry, Bronster said.
Early last year, the state sued the leading tobacco conglomerates and their research and public relations firms to recoup the millions spent on health-care for isle residents who suffer and die from tobacco-induced diseases such as cancer. Each year, more than 1,000 Hawaii residents die from cigarette smoking.
Four states -- Mississippi, Florida, Texas and Minnesota -- already have separately settled with tobacco companies for a total of $40 billion.
President Clinton considers the state settlement "a step in the right direction" but still wants Congress to do more to curb teen smoking, the White House said today. Enacting national tobacco legislation will be one of Clinton's priorities in the next Congress, according to a White House statement. "The new Congress has the chance to put politics aside and do what the last Congress failed to do, by acting now to prevent 3 million children from starting smoking and saving 1 million lives over the next five years," the statement said.
Under the proposed deal, the states would end their lawsuits in exchange for millions of dollars each. Plus, cigarette makers would establish a $2 billion foundation to "tell the truth" about the addictiveness of nicotine and dangers of smoking, Gregoire said. The foundation would send anti-tobacco advertising into all American homes.
"It won't end youth smoking in America, but it is a refreshing and essential step forward," she said.
"This plan will get Big Tobacco off the backs of our kids," added New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco.
In addition, cigarette companies agreed to end advertising of tobacco on billboards and public transportation such as taxis and to stop marketing tobacco paraphernalia such as hats and T-shirts that are particularly popular with youths.
The deal falls short of a $368 billion national proposal that Congress killed last summer. That proposal would have included much stricter measures against the tobacco industry, including giving the federal Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco. The FDA is attempting to do that through the courts now, but the new proposed deal does not address regulation.
The earlier deal fell apart after politicians added additional restrictions and tried to get tobacco companies to pay billions more, upping the total ante to about a half-trillion dollars.
The new deal would be the biggest U.S. civil settlement ever, and it would remove an enormous financial and legal threat to the industry should it lose a court case to one or more states.
The industry has not indicated how many states are needed for it to proceed with the settlement. It is likely that industry payments would be reduced if some states decided against signing.
Under the new proposal, states that agree to the settlement would receive $12 billion in upfront money from cigarette makers over the next five years. The remainder of the state payments would be spread out until 2025.
Some $250 million of the total would be dedicated specifically at cutting teen smoking.
Also, the deal would ban the use of cartoon characters such as the once-popular Joe Camel in any tobacco advertising. But the state attorneys general did not get tobacco companies to end the use of the Marlboro Man and other people in ads. The earlier attempt in Congress would have banned those, as well, because tobacco critics say such ads -- showing virile, fun-loving people -- glamorize smoking in a way that attracts young people.
Public health advocates declined to recommend whether the states should embrace the settlement."We think it's a positive step forward in the war on tobacco, but it's not the answer and doesn't itself provide a national tobacco control policy," said Diane Canova, speaking for the American Heart Association.
She said federal legislation is still needed to give the FDA authority over tobacco products.
The cigarette companies that agreed to the proposed deal are Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Brown & Williamson Tobacco and Lorillard Tobacco.
