Source:   Los Angeles Times
Contact:   213-237-4712
Author: Laurie Kellman, Associated Press Writer
Pubdate: January 30, 1998

TOBACCO EXECS ACKNOWLEDGE ADDICTION

WASHINGTON--Nicotine is addictive and causes health problems, but Congress
still should approve a national settlement that would protect tobacco
companies from some future lawsuits, industry executives say.

"We cannot agree to any legislation that does not include the limited
common-sense civil liability protections," Nick Brookes, chairman and chief
executive officer of Brown & Williamson Cos., told a congressional hearing
Thursday.

There was little evidence that lawmakers were willing to grant protection
to an industry that produced documentation showing it had targeted children
in tobacco advertisements in the 1970s.

"Our only goal must be to pass legislation that protects our children,"
said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a staunch anti-smoking advocate. "We
don't need the tobacco industry's blessing to do this. We don't even need
their agreement. All we need is the political will to do what's right."

The faceoff before the House Commerce Committee came as tobacco executives
traveled to the Capitol to argue on behalf of the settlement they
negotiated in June with 40 states.

The deal would end lawsuits against the industry in those states if the
companies pay $368 billion over 25 years and change business practices,
such as marketing. Part of the settlement money would be used to treat sick
smokers.

In return, the companies would get protection from class-action lawsuits.

On a second legal front, The Wall Street Journal reported today that the
Justice Department has begun an antitrust investigation to determine
whether three big tobacco companies colluded on tobacco leaf pricing.

The investigation is in its earliest stages and started when the companies
bid the same price for a shipment of foreign tobacco, according to the
report. The Journal cited people familiar with the inquiry.

The companies are Brown and Williamson, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and
Philip Morris Cos. A lawyer for Philip Morris said he was not aware of the
antitrust investigation, Brown and Williamson declined comment and RJR
representatives did not return telephone calls, the newspaper reported.

On Capitol Hill, the tobacco executives in pursuit of their goal
- -congressional approval of the June settlement -acknowledged the health
risks of tobacco use and promised to make public additional documents on
whether teen-agers were targeted by the industry and research on nicotine.

"Is nicotine addictive?" asked Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.

"It would be," replied Laurence Tisch, co-chairman and chief executive
officer of Loews Corp., which owns the Lorillard Tobacco Co.

"Yes, under the terms that people use today, I would say it is," said
Steven Goldstone, chairman and chief executive officer of RJR Nabisco.

Said Vincent Grierer Jr., chief executive officer of U.S. Tobacco Inc.:
"That would be accurate."

Some cigarette executives made similar acknowledgments in letters to the
Senate Judiciary Committee last year.

But Brookes demurred Thursday on addictiveness of tobacco. "I personally
would not use that term," he said.

Asked by Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, whether tobacco products cause health
problems, such as lung cancer, Goldstone replied, "Yes, I think smoking
plays a role in lung cancer."

Answered Tisch: "I think it plays a role."

On targeting cigarette ads to youth, Goldstone said: "It is immoral, it is
unethical as well as illegal to market to people underage."

He and four other industry executives pledged to make public hundreds of
thousands of 1970s documents sought by Minnesota prosecutors who are suing
the industry for consumer fraud and deception.

Those documents, also dating back to the 1970s, contain the industry's
research into whether nicotine is addictive and its plans to market tobacco
products to children, said Scott Strand, deputy counsel in the Minnesota
attorney general's office.

"This is a very good decision," the committee chairman, Rep. Thomas Bliley
Jr., R-Va., told the executives. "Now, the American people will have a
chance to read those documents for themselves."

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