For Immediate Release
Contact:
Diane Maple 202/785-3355
Frank O'Donnell 202/293-7800
HEALTH, GRASSROOTS GROUPS TO CLINTON, CONGRESS: NO 'SPECIAL PROTECTION' FOR TOBACCO Call Immunity a Public Health Issue
Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 1998 -- An unprecedented coalition of more than 200 public health and grassroots tobacco-control organizations today called on President Clinton and Congress to reject any legislative deal that grants special favors to the tobacco industry
"Don't reward Big Tobacco companies now by shielding them from the courts," said John R. Garrison, CEO of the American Lung Association. "Immunity for this industry amounts to special protections that no other industry has ever received. Immunity is a public health issue."
Garrison made the declaration at a news conference unveiling a new grassroots coalition, SAVE LIVES, NOT TOBACCO: The Coalition for Accountability. In addition to the American Lung Association, the coalition includes Public Citizen, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, American Medical Women's Association, National Medical Association, National Association of Counties and more than 200 other public health and grassroots groups opposed to tobacco-industry-backed legislation now being considered by Congress.
The SAVE LIVES coalition is adamantly opposed to efforts by the tobacco industry to gain immunity from lawsuits.
"Tobacco companies have lied about their deadly products for more than four decades. They deserve no special protection. We cannot allow this rogue industry to craft a national policy that legally absolves them of their sins," said Garrison.
"What Big Tobacco fears most are lawsuits," he said. He pointed out that it was lawsuits and the threat of finally being held accountable before American juries that prompted the industry to begin negotiating a settlement.
"We might never have discovered proof of Big Tobacco's lies unless citizens and states had not exercised their right to sue, as was done in the California case that recently disclosed the RJReynolds 'Joe Camel' documents and the Minnesota Attorney General's ongoing case," said Garrison.
"Many SAVE LIVES groups have successfully fought the war against Big Tobacco at the state and local level for years. We have now joined forces to keep the public and Congress informed as it considers federal controls on tobacco," said William Godshall, Executive Director, Smokefree Pennsylvania, who has worked for more than a decade to expose Big Tobacco's deceptions.
"The American people want freedom from tobacco-causing disease and death. They want good health for themselves and their children. No one at the grassroots level wants Congress to be soft on an industry whose products kill more than 430,000 people each year. No other industry has ever received such a sweetheart deal," Godshall said.
Yvonnecris Smith Veal, M.D., past president(1995-96) of the National Medical Association, urged Congress to follow the blue print written last year by a committee of public health experts. The committee was co-chaired by C. Everett Koop, M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General, and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, David Kessler, M.D. Veal served on the Koop-Kessler committee.
"By following those recommendations, we can focus on what must be done to protect our children from starting to use tobacco. It is equally important that we address the need to protect and save those who are already addicted to nicotine. We must put the interest of our citizens before the interest of a giant industry," she said.
In addition to opposing immunity for the tobacco industry, SAVE LIVES seeks full disclosure of secret tobacco industry documents; continued FDA authority, exercised fully, to regulate tobacco; no preemption of state and local tobacco control laws; and full, public accountability by the tobacco industry. SAVE LIVES also supports immediate, significant increases in tobacco excise taxes, including at least two additional dollars on a pack of cigarettes; expanded public health programs to treat and prevent tobacco addiction; strong measures to assure citizens the right to smoke-free work sites and public places; and restrictions to prevent tobacco companies from engaging in overseas marketing and promotion practices that are forbidden to them here at home. -30- NOTE: Full text of the Principles and Goals of Save Lives, Not Tobacco: The Coalition on Accountability, and an up-to-date list of endorsers are included in the media kit.
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