Groups Urge Global Scope to Tobacco Talks

WASHINGTON — Foreign anti-smoking leaders Tuesday attacked efforts to forge a “global” settlement of U.S. tobacco litigation, arguing that the deal may accelerate the invasion of the Third World and Eastern Europe by U.S. tobacco firms.

Tobacco-control advocates from 19 nations said a U.S. settlement could “exacerbate public health threats in the developing world,” where cigarette makers will be counting on increased sales to offset expected declines in U.S. smoking and to help fund a settlement of up to $400 billion.

Anti-tobacco negotiators involved in the talks should insist on safeguards to ensure that an agreement does not worsen the toll of disease and death overseas, the statement said. Signers included Dr. Judith Mackay of the Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control and Dr. Hatai Chitanondh of Thailand’s Health Promotion Institute, prominent figures in the international anti-smoking movement.

With domestic sales flat, U.S. cigarette makers are setting records for exports almost every year. Sales and profits from foreign cigarette plants operated by U.S. firms are growing even faster. Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, leaders in the U.S. market, sell far more cigarettes abroad than at home.

“It is ironic that the . . . settlement discussions have been labeled talks aimed at achieving ‘a global settlement,’ since the talks have reportedly excluded consideration of the public health consequences of U.S. tobacco exports and the U.S. tobacco companies’ overseas operations,” according to the statement.

The group said that any settlement should require tobacco firms, among other things, to accept the same controls on marketing overseas as they agree to at home, and agree not to fight anti-smoking initiatives in other countries. The statement was released by Essential Information, a Washington-based group concerned with issues of corporate responsibility.

A tobacco spokesman acknowledged that the U.S. industry’s foreign operations are not part of the talks.

Bill Novelli of the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids said the foreign anti-smoking leaders “are right to be concerned.”

But Novelli, noting that the cigarette makers are already applying a full-court press in developing countries, said he does not believe the settlement could make things any worse.

Novelli also noted that foreign nations could restrict tobacco marketing on their own.

As negotiators continued talks in Washington, other critics also took their shots.

Minnesota Atty. Gen. Hubert H. Humphrey III, a hard-liner on the talks, released a letter urging fellow attorneys general to refrain from endorsing any deal until an advisory panel led by ex-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and former Food and Drug Administration head Dr. David Kessler completes a report on public health issues that a deal should address.

“We should be extra careful to not be rushed to accept the current contract, because the nation’s top public health experts have not reviewed it with a fine-tooth comb,” Humphrey told a news conference in Washington.

Humphrey, whose massive lawsuit against the industry is scheduled for trial early next year, was trying to counter growing support for the talks among some public health and anti-smoking groups.

The talks between tobacco representatives, state attorneys general and anti-tobacco lawyers are aimed at settling lawsuits by 37 states that seek to recoup billions of dollars in Medicaid funds spent treating indigent victims of smoking-related illnesses.

A settlement would also resolve nearly 20 state class-action suits filed on behalf of individual smokers and would define the scope of FDA authority to regulate--or even ban--nicotine.

In exchange for dropping current lawsuits and restricting future claims, the industry would accept sweeping controls on cigarette advertising. It would also fund a massive anti-smoking campaign and stepped-up efforts to enforce laws banning tobacco sales to minors. A settlement fund of up to $400 billion over 25 years would fund those programs and compensate the states and injured smokers.

Because a deal would restrict future lawsuits, congressional approval is required.

But negotiators are racing the clock, because the first of a series of Medicaid trials is scheduled to start July 7 in Mississippi.

Russ Herman, a private anti-tobacco lawyer involved in the talks, said late Tuesday that while three main issues remain--punitive damages, FDA authority and apportioning settlement funds--he believes a deal will be completed by the end of the week.