Tobacco Institute

WASHINGTON -- When Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore outlined the landmark settlement between his fellow state officials and Big Tobacco this summer, he boasted that the Tobacco Institute, the industry's powerful lobbying and public relations arm, would be "destroyed."Moore said the institute, a longtime nemesis of the anti-smoking community, had contributed to the "culture of deceit" within the tobacco industry that "has caused the death of so many people in this country."But friends and foes of the tobacco industry say that, as with many Washington handshakes entangled in money and politics, there may be less here than meets the eye. The settlement provision that calls for dissolving the 39-year-old Tobacco Institute and its sister trade organization, the Council on Tobacco Research, is more symbolic than substantive, they say.That's because under the agreement, the tobacco industry can simply form a new lobbying group or trade association.

The controversial Center for Indoor Air Research, which has given millions of tobacco industry dollars over the past decade to researchers at the Johns Hopkins University and many other institutions, would be disbanded under the tobacco settlement to be announced next week.The Linthicum center was created by the tobacco industry in 1988 as part of a strategy to blunt growing public concern about the dangers of secondhand smoke, industry documents show.With an annual budget of about $5 million, nearly all of it from the four biggest U.S. tobacco companies, the center has poured money into research on sources of indoor air pollution other than cigarettes and sponsored research to discredit links between secondhand smoke and disease.

The battle over casino gambling in Maryland hasn't really begun, but it's already a high stakes game: In just six months, players spent about $600,000 trying to influence legislators on the issue.Top client fee -- Maryland Optometric Association, $55,236Joseph A. Schwartz IIIClients -- 11Earnings -- $335,719A5 Top client fee -- State medical society, $130,000J. William PitcherClients -- 19Earnings -- $306,0660 Top client fee -- Tobacco Institute, $60,000

Robert W. Curran jerks his head toward the Baltimore City Hall front doors while plucking a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket. "Step into my office," Curran says in his trademark raspy voice. Curran's "office" is the cobblestone courtyard outside the city's government center. The northwest Baltimore city councilman is relegated there for part of the day for one reason: He is the only member of the City Council who smokes. An increasing number of lawmakers in city councils, the General Assembly and Congress have smoked their last cigarettes, possibly signaling an end to the era of "smoke-filled room" politics.

Teen-age smoking continues to increase despite prevention programs, so the county health department is trying something new.The department is distributing "Quit Kits" through schools, youth groups and at tables at local malls. It also is sending education materials to local merchants that include posters and stickers saying that the store won't sell to minors, information on identifying minors and a list of state tobacco laws.Ending teen-age smoking "has been a community-wide concern where even retailers are hungry for information," Frances B. Phillips, county health officer, said yesterday as she introduced the initiatives, part of the county's "Learn to Live" program.

A regulation banning smoking in virtually every workplace in Maryland will be approved within days and could take effect by spring, a top state official said yesterday.A state advisory board endorsed the ban yesterday, clearing the way for final action, said Licensing and Regulation Secretary William A. Fogle.Mr. Fogle said he would approve the ban -- which he proposed in the first place -- in the next few days.If everything goes as planned, the measure would go into effect in about three months, making Maryland the first state in the nation to ban smoking in almost all workplaces.

Slowly but surely responsible elements of society are closing in on the addictive weed known as tobacco. Restaurants, shopping malls, business offices, most public places ban smoking voluntarily. Now government is getting into the act forcefully.Both federal and state officials concerned with workers' health have proposed bans on smoking in the workplace -- even restaurants and bars. That includes customers, not just employees. The corrosive effects of tobacco smoke, whether directly from a cigarette or indirectly from someone else's, are well established.

Here's a question for you: Don't smokers (cough, cough) have rights, too?In case you haven't noticed, smokers have increasingly come under, uh, fire. Now, we learn, smokers are not simply committing suicide, one little death stick at a time. The EPA boys say Joe Camel and the gang are killing the rest of us, too: Estimates on the death toll from second-hand smoke range from 3,000 to 40,000 a year.You could see how this would get some people steamed.On the heels of this report, the Orioles made their own pointed statement to smokers.

WASHINGTON -- With a ban on speech fees and other honorariums due to go into effect in 1991, several Maryland members of the House of Representatives took advantage of the privilege while it lasted in 1990, according to records disclosed today.House members voted not to accept honorariums in 1991 in exchange for a 28.6 percent pay increase that has raised their salaries to $125,100. The honorariums ban resulted from criticism that lawmakers were allowing industries to buy influence with fees for speeches and articles.

With just hours left before tonight's midnight deadline for public comments on its plans to regulate cigarettes, snuff and chewing tobacco, and with more than a half-million responses already in hand, the federal Food and Drug Administration is bracing for a last-minute flood of submissions, from impassioned postcards to industry documents more easily measured in pounds than pages.The FDA's sweeping proposal is aimed at halving the number of young tobacco users in the next seven years. It would restrict advertising and marketing, ban vending-machine sales and require that tobacco manufacturers, as a group, pay $150 million annually for anti-smoking advertising.

WINTHROP, Mass. -- From this well-worn seaside town beneath the planes roaring into the nearby Boston airport, 74-year-old Ralph Sirianni watched the unveiling of the tobacco-industry settlement this summer with mounting discontent.He also watched teen-agers continue to light up their illicit afternoon smokes not 20 feet from school.The proposed $368 billion settlement did not go far enough to stop Americans from smoking, he said, because the deal-makers seemed to care more about money than saving the lives of millions of children.

WASHINGTON -- When Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore outlined the landmark settlement between his fellow state officials and Big Tobacco this summer, he boasted that the Tobacco Institute, the industry's powerful lobbying and public relations arm, would be "destroyed."Moore said the institute, a longtime nemesis of the anti-smoking community, had contributed to the "culture of deceit" within the tobacco industry that "has caused the death of so many people in this country."But friends and foes of the tobacco industry say that, as with many Washington handshakes entangled in money and politics, there may be less here than meets the eye. The settlement provision that calls for dissolving the 39-year-old Tobacco Institute and its sister trade organization, the Council on Tobacco Research, is more symbolic than substantive, they say.That's because under the agreement, the tobacco industry can simply form a new lobbying group or trade association.

A team of researchers says it has found a direct scientific link between cigarette smoke and lung cancer, a discovery that adds another piece to the already substantial evidence that tobacco is a cause of cancer.The findings, published today in the journal Science, report the first evidence from the cell level linking smoking to lung cancer.The scientists say a chemical found in cigarette smoke has been found to cause genetic damage in lung cells that is identical to the damage observed in many malignant tumors of the lung.

WASHINGTON -- A handful of lawyers from the tobacco industry stacked up 47,000 pages of documents yesterday, challenging the Food and Drug Administration's attempt to regulate cigarettes and smokeless tobacco as an illegal "power grab."The anti-smoking forces countered with two kids from Kensington, Md., who said they bought cigarettes to show how easy it is for children to get them.This was part of a battle on the last day for public comment on an FDA proposal intended to slash underage smoking in half over the next seven years.

With just hours left before tonight's midnight deadline for public comments on its plans to regulate cigarettes, snuff and chewing tobacco, and with more than a half-million responses already in hand, the federal Food and Drug Administration is bracing for a last-minute flood of submissions, from impassioned postcards to industry documents more easily measured in pounds than pages.The FDA's sweeping proposal is aimed at halving the number of young tobacco users in the next seven years. It would restrict advertising and marketing, ban vending-machine sales and require that tobacco manufacturers, as a group, pay $150 million annually for anti-smoking advertising.

The battle over casino gambling in Maryland hasn't really begun, but it's already a high stakes game: In just six months, players spent about $600,000 trying to influence legislators on the issue.Top client fee -- Maryland Optometric Association, $55,236Joseph A. Schwartz IIIClients -- 11Earnings -- $335,719A5 Top client fee -- State medical society, $130,000J. William PitcherClients -- 19Earnings -- $306,0660 Top client fee -- Tobacco Institute, $60,000

Washington. - In 1989-1990, which was not a big election year, RJR Nabisco gave $156,430 in unregulated funds to the Republican Party, and about a fifth as much to Democrats. The only business that gave more was Atlantic Richfield. Philip Morris gave $90,000 to Republicans, and just over a third as much to Democrats.It is not surprising to find that a major oil company and a tobacco-centered conglomerate were the biggest corporate givers to GOP politics. It is not easy to prove that their contributions have anything to do with specific policies of this Republican administration.

Two of Maryland's largest business groups urged officials yesterday to snuff out a proposed ban on smoking in every workplace in the state.Spokesmen for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and an association of retail merchants said employers, not government officials, should be the ones to regulate smoking on the job.On the other hand, the largest federal employer in Maryland, the National Security Agency, applauded the proposal, saying a smoking ban has...

Teen-age smoking continues to increase despite prevention programs, so the county health department is trying something new.The department is distributing "Quit Kits" through schools, youth groups and at tables at local malls. It also is sending education materials to local merchants that include posters and stickers saying that the store won't sell to minors, information on identifying minors and a list of state tobacco laws.Ending teen-age smoking "has been a community-wide concern where even retailers are hungry for information," Frances B. Phillips, county health officer, said yesterday as she introduced the initiatives, part of the county's "Learn to Live" program.

Seventeen-year-old Gene Miille of Glen Burnie and "Joe Camel" are intimate.Each day, the teen-ager sticks a Camel Lite cigarette between his lips, inhales and then exhales puffs of smoke. Gene, who started smoking at age 15, continues until he smokes up to a pack and a half of cigarettes each day."I'm kind of addicted to them, and I go out and buy them," Gene said as he dragged on a cigarette outside the Marley Station Mall in Glen Burnie last week.Gene said he'll continue smoking despite a new state law that prohibits those under age 18 from using or possessing tobacco products.