The warnings reflect recent studies and media campaigns in Britain (one of the few Western countries that recognize SIDS as an identifiable form of death) which have helped cut British SIDS deaths radically since 1991.

NICOTINE FOUND IN FETAL HAIR

New York, Feb. 22, 1994. Reserachers have found dose-related levels of nicotine and its byproducts in the fetal hair of newborns of women exposed to second hand smoke--evidence that mothers pass at least some of the toxic elements in envirnonmental tobacco smoke on to their children before birth.

"Until now, we have advised women not to smoke during pregnancy. Now we must say to women considering pregnancy that if someone around you is a smoker, you and your baby may also be smokers," said Dr. Gideon Koren of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, author of the study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Koren's study examined the hair of newborns for nicotine and cotinine--a byproduct of the body's metabolization of nicotine--and found dose-related levels of both substances. Babies whose mothers were exposed regularly to second-hand smoke had twice the amount of the chemicals than the babies whose mothers were not exposed.

The study involved 94 mothers: 36 smokers, 23 non-smokers who said they were regularly exposed to ETS, and 35 non-smokers who said they had no regular exposure to ETS.

SMOKING AND COLON CANCER

Washington, Feb. 2, 1994. Smoking leads to colon cancer, and the increased risks remain throughout one's life, even if tobacco use is stopped, according to two studies published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"With colon cancer, if you smoke in your 20s, that risk stays with you," said Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health. This contrasts with other smoking risks, such as heart or lung disease, where the risks lessen greatly over a period of years after smoking cessation. But the studies show that with colorectal cancer, "even if you stop at age 40, you'll still be at greater risk." He said the risk was dose-related, i.e., "the more you smoke, the more the risk."

Both studies used questionnaires, and involved over 160,000 men and women.

Giovannucci measured dosage in "pack years," defined as the equivalent of smoking a pack a day for one year. Men who smoked 35 pack years or more had a 94 percent increased risk of developing colon cancer. In the other study, women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day for 35 to 39 years had a 47% increased cancer risk; women who smoked 45 pack years had twice the risk of nonsmokers.

Giovannucci's findings "provide the strongest epidemiologic evidence to date of a causal link between smoking and colorectal cancer risk," wrote Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding of the University of California at Los Angeles Schools of Public Health and Medicine in an editorial in the Journal. "Since colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, the 75 percent to 100 percent incremental risk of developing this type of cancer observed in smokers, starting about 35 years after smoking initiation, has significant public health implications," he wrote.

Studies have found links between cigarettes and cancers of the pancreas, bladder and kidney--organs that, like the colon, do not come into direct contact with smoke. Giovannucci referred to research that has shown that carcinogens from tobacco smoke can be carried through the circulatory system to the mucosa of the large bowel. USA today reports that the risk comes mainly from the carcinogens released from smoldering cigarettes.

About 150,000 people were diagnosed with colon-rectal cancer in 1992, and 57,000 people died of it. Giovannucci suggested aggressive screening for cancer among former and current smokers over 50.

SMOKING AND OSTEOPOROSIS

Feb. 10, 1994. Women smokers are at a significantly greater risk of developing osteoporosis, and heavy smokers can suffer bone density loss significant enough to account for a 44% greater increase in fractures, according to an Australian study published in the New England Journal of Medicine today.

The study confirms previous evidence that smoking interferes with estrogen, a hormone vital to bone formation.

The study, by Ego Seeman and John Llewelyn Hooper at the University of Melbourne, followed 41 identical twins middle-aged and older, and found dose-related differences in bone density.

A woman who smoked a pack a day more than her twin over ten years had a 1-2% decrease in bone density, An overall loss of 1-2% over 4-5 decades puts the smoker as a sharply higher risk of developing brittle bones later in life. At a 2 pack a day rate over ten years, the smoking twin had a 5-10% decrease in density--enough bone loss to raise the risk of fracture up to 44%.

The study controlled for life-style and estrogen use.

Osteoporosis affects 25 million women, and 25% of women over 60 (men's denser bones, and other factors, shield them somewhat).

Bones go through a process known as remodeling, whereby old bone is removed and replaced by new. By the age of 35, more old is removed than is replaced. This does not become a problem until menopause, when bone loss accelerates, and bones become increasingly brittle.

The first sign is loss of height. Weakened bones of the spine become compressed, and later fracture and collapse, creating the "dowager's hump." Fractures, especially of the hip, wrist, and spine, become more likely..

Women are commonly urged to increase their intake of calcium and vitamin D, and to exercise. Estrogen is known to help bones remain strong, so estrogen supplements are often prescribed.

Deprivation of calcium early in life, decreased hormone levels and inactivity all contribute to the severity of the condition.

Although the process is unclear, it is thought that smoking may interfere with estrogen's effects, or may even poison the bones directly.

Charles W. Slemenda of the University of Indiana School of Medicine in Indianapolis said in an accompanying editorial that "physicians should mention the decreased bone density and increased risk of fractures when they counsel patients about smoking cessation.

"Whether the prospect of a dowager's hump or a disability due to a hip fracture will provide a stronger incentive to stop smoking than the prospect of lung cancer or early heart disease is not known," he said.

SMOKING AND COCAINE

Boston, MA. Feb. 16, 1994. Cocaine users are significantly more likely to suffer heart attacks if they smoke at the same time, as smoking and cocaine compound each other's effects on the heart, a study concludes.

Both practices speed up the heart, increasing the need for blood flow to supply oxygen to the hard-working heart muscle , while at the same time constricting the arteries and cutting off that flow. This double-bind exerts great stress on the muscle.

Cocaine and cigarette smoking exert considerably more stress when used together, according to the study by Dr. David J. Moliterno of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The research team physically monitored 42 smokers given a tiny amount of cocaine.

PATCH IMPROVES QUIT RATE, STUDIES SHOW

Rochester, MN. Feb. 22, 1994. Smokers using transdermal nicotine patches showed a 27% quit rate, twice the rate achieved with a placebo patch, a Mayo Clinic study showed.

The study, published in the Feb. 23 issue of JAMA, was also the first to indicate that quit rates could be dose-related.

"The patch" delivers a steady stream of nicotine into the blood, usually up to the equivalent received by someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. Heavier smokers can still suffer nicotine withdrawal pains, the study indicates, as the highest success rates were found among the lighter smokers.

The study involved 240 smokers who wore the patch for 8 weeks, and had occasional counseling over the next year. It found that one year after the program, 27% of those using the patch were still not smoking, whereas only 14% of those receiving a placebo patch were not smoking.

(Going "cold turkey" has a success rate of 3%, and doctor counselling has an 8% success rate.)

The study measured smokers' nicotine levels, and found that those with the lowest levels had the highest quit rates.

"This is the first time that a relationship has ever been shown between outcome and baseline nicotine levels in the blood," said Dr. Richard Hurt, director of Mayo's Nicotine Dependence Center.

The 27% success rate is disappointing to researchers, but since most subjects received lower nicotine doses than what their bodies were accustomed to from smoking, researchers held out the hope the quit rate could be improved with heavier doses based on beginning nicotine levels.

"We think what this means is that if we can better match the dose of nicotine patch therapy with the nicotine level in people's systems while smoking, we can achieve even higher stop smoking rates than those shown in this study," Hurt said.

"In some respects, the transdermal nicotine patch is a therapeutic success," said Neal Benowitz, a nicotine patch expert and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, "but it's not as great as it should be."

"We haven't optimized the effects of the patch. For certain people, we may have to look to other approaches, such as nicotine gum or the still experimental nicotine nasal spray."

Benowitz is studying the effects of nicotine nasal sprays, which can be used whenever the patient gets a craving for a cigarette. The nicotine is absorbed quickly in the nasal passages, and approximates the kind of stimulation a smoker would get from the first puff of a cigarette. A danger is that such sprays may become as addictive as cigarettes.

Benowitz pointed out that the patch is safer than smoking because the wearer usually gets less nicotine, doesn't inhale the other toxins in cigarette smoke, and doesn't experience the peaks of nicotine associated with smoking, which can damage the body.

"We probably can do better than a quit rate of 25 percent," Benowitz said. "But behavior modification is tough. It's much easier for someone just to take a pill or slap on a patch than to change his or her behavior."

The JAMA issue also reported the results of two other patch studies. In one, researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Pennsylvania released a survey that found many patch users never receive adequate medical advice,.and run medical risks from smoking while wearing the patch.

The survey of over 1,000 people ages 65-74 who received funds for the patch through a state program for the poor is the first to examine "real world" patch use.

The survey found 54% received virtually no initial advice or materials from their doctors or pharmacists, and 47% smoked while wearing the patch.

The sharp rise in nicotine levels from smoking while wearing the patch has been linked with abdominal pain, mental confusion and vomiting. though none of the respondents reported such reactions.

29% reported they no longer smoked after 6 months.

All three studies reported in JAMA were at least partially funded by patch manufacturers, or were conducted by researchers who have received money from them.

LOCAL ISSUES

NYC MAYOR FIGHTS MARLBORO SIGN

New York, Feb. 4, 1994. New York City's new mayor, Rudolf Giuliani, held true to a campaign pledge today, and said he would urge the owners of Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, to remove the large billboard advertising Marlboro cigarettes.

Anti-smoking activists, led by Joe Cherner of Smokefree Educational Services, last year pressed former Mayor David Dinkins to remove the sign. Dinkins said he didn't have the authority.

But Giuliani, in a pre-mayoral election call-in program, responded to a question by Cherner by saying, "We're going to get the sign down."

The Mets rent the stadium from the city. Therefore, argues Cherner, the Parks Commissioner has the duty to remove any advertising that is '"not keeping with the character and dignity of the stadium facility."

"This is the right thing to do," Cherner said today. "The billboard is wrong. It gets on TV constantly. It makes it seem as if the . Mets players endorse Marlboro."

"We've asked them to remove the sign," said a mayoral adviser. "And we believe the sign will come down voluntarily. And it will come down before Opening Day in April."

In other Marlboro sign news, Linda Lawrence won her battle to have Philip Morris remove its 7-year-old Marlboro billboard on I-95 in the industrial Port Richmond section of Philadelphia, PA.

The 60 foot tall billboard--one of the few vertical Marlboro Man signs in the country--was within 500 feet of a school, Lawrence said, in violation of tobacco industry policy.

Lawrence said she is glad neighborhood kids won't have "to idolize that. ... I'm glad they don't have to look out their bedroom windows and dream about being the Marlboro Man."

MICHIGAN: 50 CENT CIG TAX RISE ON BALLOT

Lansing, MI. Feb. 15, 1994. An initiative on the March 15 ballot would raise state-wide cigarette taxes in Michigan by 50 cents.

The American Cancer society is urging its grass roots network to vote Yes on Proposal A. 6% of the revenue from the tax ($36 million) will be earmarked for health programs.

The American Cancer Society continues to work for repeal of a recent bill passed by the legislature that preempted localities from issuing laws controlling the distribution of cigarettes.

"Though passage of Proposal A will not eliminate the preemptive clause, we will be working hard to support legislation that will eliminate it and empower local communities to pass local tobacco control ordinances," the society said.

CHICAGO VS. UNDERAGE TOBACCO SALES

Chicago, IL Feb 10, 1994. . Though Chicago has one of the toughest laws against selling cigarettes to minors, not one arrest was made in 1993.

Acknowledging that police are overburdened with more serious crimes Ald. Edward Burke (14th) has succeeded Wednesday in convincing the Chicago city council to pass an amendment that decriminalizes the sale of tobacco products to minors, making it a civil offense instead.

This shift in the nature of the offense allows the city's Revenue Department to issue tickets, and settle offenses at a civilian hearing before a Revenue official, much as happens with traffic ticket scofflaws.

Although police may do so also, Revenue Department inspectors will issue most of the tickets and function as the main enforcement arm.

The Revenue Dept. also has the power to revoke an owner's business license if convicted of selling tobacco to minors 3 times within 2 years.

Police and Revenue departments can set up publicized sting operations.

Today, fresh from his victory, Burke said he is going to push now for a new law, based on San Francisco's recent law, that would ban smoking in virtually every public location in the city, excluding private meeting rooms and bars.

Burke faces some determined opposition. Ald. William Beavers (7th) said, "Burke can do what he wants, but this is my right to smoke. There is a no-smoking policy in City Hall, but wherever I put my ashtray is a smoking area."

And Ald. Robert Shaw (9th), known for carrying his ashtray with him to non-smoking areas, including the council chambers itself, said he would fight such a bill. "It's infringing on smokers' rights," he said.

IN: SCHOOL SMOKING BAN

Feb. 7, 1994. A bill before the Indiana state legislature would ban all smoking on public school properties. The bill, sponsored by state rep. Earle Howard, would apply even to athletic competitions and special events.

KANSAS: PREEMPTION THREAT

Topeka, KS. Feb. 15, 1994 A bill supported by restaurants and tobacco groups threatens to preempt virtually all local tobacco-control laws for businesses in Kansas.

The Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association seeks to give total authority on smoking control to the individual business.

"We're not endorsing smoking; we're not endorsing non-smoking," said George Puckett, executive director of the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association. "But we're coming forth with a vengeance endorsing the free enterprise for an operator to evaluate the needs of her or his clientele and to adjust accordingly."

Brian Gilpin of the American Heart Association in Kansas said of Puckett's group, "They're acting as a front agency for the tobacco industry"

Present state law also leaves smoking control in the hands of the individual business, but it is not "preemptive," and many local communities have passed tighter restrictions. The proposed bill comes as the Wichita City Council is considering a total smoking ban.

"The problem with what the anti-smokers advocate is that they create a patchwork quilt of varying regulations," said Thomas Lauria of the Tobacco Institute. "And you go to a suburb of Wichita, for example, and regulations are different than in other nearby towns. Business people feel that they're on an uneven playing field, that customers will just go to the next community that isn't quite so strict, and they lose business."

Lauria denies the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association is an industry front group. "We tend to support statewide regulation that our allies in the restaurant industry want and like," he said. "Just because we support it doesn't mean they're our lackeys."

But, State Rep. Henry Helgerson (D-Wichita) said, "It's just very coincidental that this type of legislation is breaking out all across the country when, if you look at the literature that's being put out by the tobacco industry . . . they have suggested this as an avenue to prohibit individual decision-making at the local level."

PHILIP MORRIS SUES SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco, CA. Feb. 2, 1994. Yesterday San Francisco's antismoking law, one of the toughest in the nation, went into effect. Today Philip Morris, in a radical change of strategy, sued San Francisco to have the law annulled.

The law bans smoking in enclosed offices, sports arenas and factories, and will ban smoking in restaurants on Jan 1, 1995.

The suit being brought in San Francisco superior court by Philip Morris, 5 restaurants, and the San Francisco Hotel Association, calls for the law to be annulled as unenforceable and preempted by state workplace regulations.

The businesses filing the suit claim the law will hurt tourism and business.

Steve Parrish, senior vice president and general counsel of Philip Morris, said his company believes the common sense solution is to provide separate sections for smokers and non-smokers.

Previous to this, the tobacco industry has stayed out of local politics, preferring to work for preemptive statutes at the state level.

The policy worked well in North Carolina, in which a preemptive law was passed last year that, according to Eben Shapiro of Dow Jones News, "regulates smoking in public places but contains no actual restrictions on smoking."

One thing the new policy may do is make local communities considering a ban calculate how much money they have on hand for legal fees.

SMOKE-FREE CONTEST FOR CA TEENS

Jan. 26, 1994. The American Lung Association of Santa Clara-San Benito Counties is once again sponsoring its annual Smoke-Free by the Year 2000 Billboard Contest, in which kids compete for the best billboard that contributes to a smoke-free society.

Open to high school students in Santa Clara

and San Benito counties, winners receive a cash award, and get their designs displayed on billboards.

Billboard space for the 8 year old contest is donated by Gannett Outdoor Co., one of the nation's largest billboard companies, which posts the designs wherever there is room, and tries to keep them for a month.

Entries must be submitted to the American Lung Association, 1469 Park Ave., San Jose, by 4 pm Friday, Feb. 25.

For an entry package, call the ALA at (408) 998-5864.

INTERNATIONAL

CANADA CIG TAXES AXED

Winnepeg, Canada. Feb. 4, 1994.

In desperate and aggressive move to halt the booming cigarette smuggling business, the Canadian government will cut cigarette taxes by $20 or more per carton, sources told Knight-Ridder Financial News.

In the face of strong opposition from the provinces of Ontario, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, Ottawa and Quebec have developed a strategy to combat the rampant smuggling.

The plan calls for:

• a drastic cut in cigarette taxes to narrow the disparity between US and Canadian cigarette prices.
• tougher enforcement of anti-smuggling laws.
• a public education campaign on the loss of tax revenues due to smuggled cigarettes.

The plan could be announced as early as Monday.

Anti-smoking groups have been battling the possible reduction for weeks, urging the government to put off any reduction until it became clear how much Congress would raise cigarette taxes in the US.

A full page newspaper ad published in the Toronto Globe and Mail and sponsored by the Canadian Cancer Society, the Lung Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and other groups read:

"Prime Minister, you and your government are on the verge of producing a disaster, the largest setback in the history of Canadian public health."

"If Cabinet approves a plan to roll back tobacco taxes, you could destroy all the gains in reducing tobacco use made by the health community in the last decade," said the ad.

"Turn away from the debacle ahead. Canada has precedent-setting declines in tobacco consumption. Much larger than in the U.S., where governments have protected the tobacco industry with taxes far below world levels."

Cliff Douglas of the American Cancer Society said, "Canada has been our greatest role model in demonstrating the effectiveness of tobacco taxes in preventing disease and premature death. We're using the Canadian data and experience heavily in our effort to persuade the U.S. Congress to follow suit by substantially raising federal tobacco taxes here."

From 1989 to 1992 Canadian cigarette consumption dropped about 17.1 percent per capita, compared with a 6.8 percent drop in the U.S.

RUSSIA

In other smuggling news, Russia is having a difficult time collecting import duties on cigarettes. Marlboros in Moscow should cost $3.50; but they actually only cost $.90.

Border problems, bungled paperwork, graft and organized crime are contributing to the problem.

To stem the tide, the Russian government will require a deposit of payable taxes on all shipments coming into the country, or $300,000 per cigarette truckload.

CHINA

China also is facing major smuggling problems and boat hijackings in the South China Seas are rife. 706 boats were seized in 1993, Chinese police say.

The main articles of contraband are cars, electrical appliances, and cigarettes.

CANADA IN TURMOIL OVER SMOKING

Feb. 8, 1994 Ottawa, Canada. Cigarette smuggling has turned Canadian border towns in war zones. It has cost the government $2 billion in unpaid taxes in 1993 alone. It has threatened to openly criminalize huge segments of the population (in Quebec, where 75% of the market was in contraband, shopowners recently protested by openly selling untaxed cigarettes). And it has almost brought the Canadian government to war with the Mohawk Indians whose Akwasnese and Kahnawake reservations provide quick and easy transport across the border.

An estimated 1/3 of all cigarettes sold in Canada are smuggled in from the US to avoid Canada's hefty cigarette tax. Because Canadian cigarettes cost upwards of $33 a carton and the same carton in the US sells for $15, smuggling has become a booming $1 billion business that, Prime Minister Jean Chretien told Parliament Tuesday, "is a threat to the very fabric of Canadian society."

Now Chretien's administration has taken controversial tough steps to eviscerate smuggling profits. The "National Action Plan to Combat Smuggling" will:

• lower national taxes by as much as one-third
• impose an C$8 (US$6) per carton tax on tobacco exports
• levy a 3% surtax on the profits of Canadian cigarette companies, claiming they were knowingly profiting from the smuggling business.
• call for tougher enforcement measures, including increased patrols of border areas.
• launch a US$150 million educational campaign aimed at discouraging young people from smoking, to be paid for by the surcharge on tobacco companies' profits.

The tax cut is effective immediately. Chretien said he would cut more, if the provincial governments--always hard-pressed for funds--would contribute with further cuts.

The plan is expected to cost about C$450 million (US$338 million) while the surtax on tobacco companies' profits will bring in about C$200 million ($US 150 million).

The plan was applauded by Quebec and the Mohawks, and criticized by health groups and most of Canada's other cash-strapped provinces.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY CRITICIZED

Canada's tobacco industry came in for some harsh criticism.

"This export tax," Chretien said, "reflects the fact that 80% of cigarettes being sold on the black market are Canadian cigarettes that were manufactured for export."

He said Canadian tobacco companies "have benefited from this illegal trade. They have known perfectly well that their tobacco exports to the United States are reentering Canada illegally. I believe they have not acted responsibly."

The previous administration tried a similar export tax, but was forced to abandon it when tobacco manufacturers threatened to leave Canada.

Major Canadian tobacco companies include Imasco Ltd., which controls Imperial Tobacco Ltd.; RJR-Macdonald Inc., a subsidiary of RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc., which is jointly owned by Rothmans Inc. and Philip Morris Cos.

PROVINCES IN REVOLT

Although it is supposed to be a national strategy, several provinces have said they will not go along with the plan, and have called for the restoration of the taxes.

Though Quebec, hardest hit in the smuggling war, said it would immediately cut its provincial tax by C$11 (US$8.25) a carton, reducing the price of cigarettes from C$47 to C$23, Ontario's Premier Bob Rae, whose province needs the revenue from high cigarette taxes, said that the problem will now simply shift from a north-south one to an east-west one. He said cigarette smuggling will continue, but now it will be between provinces.

British Columbia also has indicated it will keep its taxes high. "The most significant deterrent to smoking is the price," said Paul Ramsey, B.C. health minister.

HEALTH ISSUES

Anti-smoking groups are distressed. "From a public health perspective, this was a horrendous decision," said David Sweanor, senior legal counsel for the Non-Smokers' Rights Association and other health groups.

Pointing out that Canada's high taxes are considered the biggest reason smoking has declined in the last ten years, he said, "There will be 250,000 additional smoking-related deaths in Canada as a result of this decision."

US INFLUENCES

US health groups also opposed the tax cuts, arguing that Canada's high taxes helped them press the Clinton administration to raise cigarette taxes higher than the administration's proposed figure of $.75 per pack, both to reduce smoking, and to achieve parity with Canada, thus reducing the smuggling problem.

"U.S. tobacco tax policy is undermining not only our own public health but the public health of Canada as well," said John Bloom of the American Cancer Society.

Canadian Revenue Minister David Anderson

told Dow Jones the government would welcome US taxes on cigarettes higher than the proposed $.75 figure.

"We really would like to see some fairly dramatic changes in American taxation levels so that we could start to reimpose ours," he said.

BROADER SMUGGLING THREAT SEEN

In response to health concerns, Chretien said, "The issue is not how to keep prices high so young people do not smoke. The issue is how to keep cheap contraband cigarettes out of the hands of young people," He promised to step up anti-smuggling efforts, pointing out that smugglers also traffic in liquor, firearms and drugs.

"As much as we may all regret the necessity to lower cigarette taxes, we must do so until we put the smugglers out of business" Chretien said. "Every time you light up, you are supporting gangs that have committed murders and car-bombings."

Already there is evidence many smugglers are using the network connections they established with cigarettes to switch over en masse to the lucrative liquor smuggling business.

Health Minister Diane Marleau said Thursday, "As soon as the contraband market has been closed down completely we can go back to increasing prices as a way of discouraging smoking,"

THE INDIAN QUESTION

While Mohawk leaders say the new plan eases immediate tensions on the reservations, there are worries about continued calls for invasion from the Reform Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

Also, increased border patrols means increased police presence outside reservations. In discussing the anti-smuggling measures, Chretien commented, "There will be no refuge for criminals. `No-go areas' are not acceptable in Canada. This is one country with one set of laws that apply to all citizens in all communities."

Any move by the Canadian government onto reservations could lead to another armed standoff similar to the Oka, Quebec incident in 1990 in which one police officer died.

ANTI-TOBACCO FIGHT EXPANDED

Chretien announced several other tobacco regulatory measures. He said the government would:

• require clearer markings to distinguish domestic and for-export packs of cigarettes.
• raise the legal age for buying cigarettes from 16 to 18
• ban "kiddie packs", cheap packs of 5 or 10 cigarettes.
• increase fines for selling cigarettes to minors
• restrict the locations of cigarette vending machines.
• strengthen cigarette pack health warnings

CANADA: ONTARIO MAY JOIN CIG TAX CUT

Toronto, Ontario. Feb. 16, 1994. Ontario may be forced to cut its cigarette taxes in the wake of federal tax cuts enacted last week, according to Frances Lankin, Ontario Economic Development and Trade Minister.

Ontario fought the tax cut, which was meant to curb a booming smuggling trade in cigarettes between the US and Canada. However, nearby provinces Quebec and New Brunswick immediately announced their own additional tax cuts, creating the potential for a brisk smuggling trade between Ontario and Quebec.

CANADA: CIGARETTE PRODUCTION OFF 6.8%

Ottawa. Feb. 18, 1994. Cigarette production by Canadian companies was off 6.8% last year, Statistics Canada announced. 3.81 billion cigarettes were produced in 1993, down from 4.09 billion in 1992.

ONTARIO CUTS CIG TAX, WILL SUFFER C$500 MILLION LOSS

Toronto, Ontario. Feb. 22, 1994. Ontario announced a cigarette tax cut of C$9.60/carton effective tonight at midnight.

The dramatic move is expected to cost C$500 million in lost revenue, but "was forced on us by decisions made by the federal government and Quebec to slash cigarette prices in that province," said Ontario finance minister Floyd Laughren. "The health and revenue impacts, both of them very serious, can be laid at their door."

The C$500 million dollar figure includes revenue gained from increased cigarette sales due to the decrease of smuggling and the more purchases by the poor and adolescents.

The tax cut will be matched by the federal government and will be in addition to the earlier federal tax cut of C$5/carton.

The move was impelled by the loss of up to 80% of retail sales in areas bordering Quebec, where cigarettes sell for $C23 per carton, as compared to C$41 in Ontario. The recent tax cut will bring Ontario's prices in line with Quebec's.

Ontario said it will have to institute spending cuts, and admitted the move "will put enormous pressure on Manitoba," Ontario's western neighbor, to cut its taxes as well.

Michael Perley, director of the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco said the cut is "a catastrophe for public health in the province." With the new cheaper prices, he said, about 9,000 young people will start smoking each month, up from 3,000 currently.

4 COUNTRY AIRLINE NON-SMOKING PACT?

Feb. 20, 1994. The US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand may soon reach an agreement whereby all four ban smoking on flights between their countries.

An agreement may even be reached within 6 months, according to Don M. Newman and Jim Weber, the United States and Australian delegates respectively to the International Civil Aviation Organization--a United Nations affiliate which deals with international air standards.

The agreement would affect most trans-Pacific flights, and would prevent any one airline from suffering a competitive disadvantage for banning smoking.

None of the countries foresee the need for added legislation from their governments in order to enact the ban. The US has a 1990 congressionally-ordered regulation which bans smoking on all domestic flights of under 6 hours, and the Dept. of Transportation believes it may add provisions to it without legislation.

Australia and New Zealand both ban domestinc smoking and in 1992 banned inter-country flights on their respective national airlines, Qantas and Air New Zealand.

Canada will ban all smoking on any airline based in Canada this July 1, which could severely hurt Canadian Airlines' Vancouver/Tokyo flights. A spokesperson said 75% of passengers on this flight are Japanese, and 60% of them want to smoke. Losing those passengers could mean also losing $23 million a year.

The ICAO has set July of 1996 as the date all smoking will be banned aboard all commercial flights around the world.

Among domestic arilines, Northwest, American and United have all recently announced varying increases of smokefree services on international flights.

USAir, Delta, Trans World and Continental have said they plan no changes. USAir, which has three flights to Europe, says it has more demand than smoking seats.

Internationally, Hong-Kong-based Cathay Pacific, Air France, British Airways, Qantas and Air New Zealand have announced or instituted smoking bans on select international flights.

No airline, however, offers smoke-free flights to Japan, which has a male smoking rate of 60%. Until rrecently the only cigarette manufacturer in Japan was Japan Tobacco, a state-owned monopoly.

BRITAIN REJECTS TOBACCO AD BAN

London, Feb. 7, 1994. Britain bans tobacco ads on radio and TV, but the Health Ministry recently rejected the idea of a blanket ban.

"The government has reviewed the evidence thoroughly and found little to support the argument that a statutory ban would have a dramatic effect on further reducing smoking," the Health Ministry said, in defiance of anti-smoking health groups.

The Ministry said it would reopen talks with tobacco companies to strengthen voluntary bans to try to cut smoking among youth.. Tobacco companies, in an effort to stave off tougher legislation, now have agreed not to advertise in movie theatres or near schools.

A bill calling for a total advertising ban is before parliament and will be debated in the House of Commons Feb. 11.

The number of British smokers fell from 45% in 1974 to 28% today, but the number of British kids under 16 who smoke has remained frozen at 10% for a decade.

BRITAIN: TOBACCO MOGULS BID FOR LOTTERY

London, Feb. , 1994. Eight bidders stepped up and placed their bets for the chance to run England's first national lottery since 1826.

Two of the bidding companies in the closely-watched event pledged to give the potentially huge profits to charity: the UK Lottery Foundation and the Rainbow group.

The Rainbow group is led by Sir Patrick Sheehy, chairman of British American Tobacco, one of the world's largest tobacco companies, and Richard Wheatley of Leo Burnett.

BAT Industries is one of the world's largest tobacco companies. Its US subsidiary Brown & Williamson sells Kool, Capri, Raleigh, Belair and Barclay.

Leo Burnett is the advertising agency responsible for the "Marlboro Man." The campaign was first created in 1954, and remains one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history. For years, Philip Morris' Marlboro cigarettes have dominated the underage market and today Marlboro has a 65% share of the underage cigarette market.

Other companies involved in the creation of lottery groups include candy company Cadbury Schweppes, computer company Racal Electronics, General Electric, Thorn EMI, the Rank Organization, and NM Rothschild

BRITAIN: SMOKEFREE ISLE BECKONS

Lundy, England. Jan 30, 1994. This British isle of 14 people 12 miles off western England is advertising itself as a complete 10-day cold-turkey stop smoking course.

The one bar and shop will not carry cigarettes. Visitors must sign a pledge not to bring in cigarettes and will be subject to breath tests. A doctor and a nurse will offer counseling.

"This is not as a punishment but to protect other people struggling to give up," said organizer Lisa ter Haar.

The island normally attracts 17,000 tourists a year.

IRELAND: SINN FEIN TO DISCUSS ETS

Dublin, Ireland. Feb. 24, 1994. Certainly other matters will be addressed at the Irish political organization Sinn Fein's annual conference this weekend outside Dublin--most especially Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds' request that Sinn Fein endorse an Anglo-irish peace plan--but the organization also will conduct a review of all Sinn Fein policy from sex discrimination to second hand smoke.

Both the Protestants and Catholics of Northern Ireland recently came to international attention as having the highest rates of heart-related death in the world (Sclotland follows closely), and having the unhealthiest life-style in Europe, from their beloved "Ulster fry" a breakfast concoction of eggs, fried bread, sausage and bacon swimming in grease and known as "heart attack on a plate" to their phenomenal drinking and smoking rates. Smoking, it was noted, kills 2500 people a year in Northern Ireland--more than political violence, auto accidents, drug abuse, suicide and AIDS combined.

ITALY: CIG SMUGGLING CRACKDOWN

Rome, Italy. Jan. 27, 1994. Widespread cigarette smuggling in Italy continues unabated, so the Italian government has come up with a new penalty: not only must smokers caught buying contraband cigarettes pay a fine of $60, and they must also post a notice of their crime in one or more newspapers--and pay for that, too.

The law takes effect in two weeks. The government hopes such public shame will help abate the smuggling problem. Most of the contraband is brought in by speedboat across the Adriatic.

ITALY: NEOPOLITAN SMUGGLERS PROTEST

Naples, Italy. Feb. 10, 1994. Passing out leaflets that read, "Contraband is life and we want to live," nearly 500 contraband cigarette vendors protested a government crackdown yesterday.

As of today, contraband cigarette vendors are now no longer able to openly prowl the streets, as did the character played by Sophia Loren in "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."

A recent Italian law takes effect today that levies fines of 100,000 lire (US$60) for buyers, and mandates that their names be published in local newspapers. Vendors are subject to as much as 4 years in jail if they are caught with over 33 pounds of cigarettes.

Naples has one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe, and as many as 8,000 families may be dependent on the trade of black market cigarettes brought in from EAstern Europe. It is a $600 million a year business controlled by the Camorra, the local mafia.

A Naples city councillor at the demonstration told reporters, "It would have been logical to offer these people an alternative. For years, the authorities have been tolerant towards the trade because they knew there were no chances of employment"

Naples prefect Umberto Improta has proposed a plan whereby the vendors may market legal goods on the streets.

ITALY: CIGARETTE VENDOR PROTEST TEAR-GASSED

Bari, Italy. Feb. 15, 1994. Nearly 100 contraband cigarette vendors were tear gassed to break up a demonstration against new laws cracking down on untaxed cigarette sales.

Police said they moved in to break up the demonstration after they were pelted by bottles and rocks.

The protest followed a similar though non-violent demonstration of 500 last week in Naples.

Bari is the main port for speedboats crossing the Adriatic, which take contraband cigarettes from central Europe to southern Italy.

The government has tolerated open sales of contraband cigarettes, considering the poverty of the regions in which it flourishes, but the new law represents a major crackdown. It sets fines of 100,000 lire ($60) for buying untaxed cigarettes, plus publication of the buyers' names.

GERMANY: VIETNAMESE CIG-SMUGGLING GANGS

Berlin, Germany. Feb. 16, 1994.

German police raided an apartment block inhabited by 170 Vietnamese and seized 250,000 untaxed cigarettes, in addition to videos and mobile telephones.

The apartment block was a home for guest workers. 35 Vietnamese without identification papers were detained.

Germany's wealth, location and liberal laws make it a target for world crime syndicates, some German police groups claim.

Last month two people died when Vietnamese gangs warred in Halle with guns and samurai swords in a dispute over contraband cigarettes.

GERMAN DOCTORS URGE ETS CONTROL

Citing serious health problems resulting from environmental tobacco smoke, four doctors repreenting various German health groups wrote a letter to parliament urging tobacco control programs be instituted.

The doctors, top specialists in heart disease and cancer, said evidence of the damaging effects of ETS was iindisputable, and there was no recourse but to place legal curbs on public smoking.

`Toxic substances in tobacco smoke cause changes in cells, without people affected being aware, which set off the process of cancer development and of arteriosclerosis," the letter said.

"The number of people whose heart blood vessels are damaged or whose lung function is seriously impaired through passive smoking, especially children, old people and the sick, is certainly well above the number of cancer deaths."

The doctors said 10 million Germans were addicted to tobacco.

"Most of these cannot be expected to show consideration for non-smokers voluntarily," they said.

SPAIN: TABACALERA PROFIT FALLS 75%

Madrid, Spain. Feb. 25, 1994. Spanish tobacco company Tabacalera said its profits for 1993 fell 75%, due to:

• a sharp increase in contraband tobacco
• higher sales of low-priced blonde tobacco brands
• devaluation of the peseta

Sales last year fell 7.5%, largely due to an enormous black market in smuggled cigarettes, said Tabacalera chairman Pedro Perez. The government has recently enacted tough new legislation to deal with the smuggling, but control is still difficult because of the European Union, he said.

"Stopping contraband traffic can't be done at a purely national level," said Perez.

PAKISTAN: TV CIG ADS MAY STAY

Islamabad, Pakistan. Feb. 24, 1994. Pakistan's Supreme Court has ruled against a radio and TV cigarette advertising ban.

The case was brought by an expatriate Pakistani who now operates a cancer clinic in the US. He sued for the ban as a human rights issue, arguing that since tobacco companies are suffering a decline in sales in developed countries, they are increasing their advertising in developing ones.

The court, according to the newspaper Jang, ruled that the issue may be a moral one, but is not a human rights issue.

Lawyers for the state-run radio and TV industry argued the products were legal, and that immediately following the ads are government warnings that smoking is hazardous to health.

TAJIKISTAN: TV CIG ADS MUST GO

Feb. 25, 1994. Soviet news agency Tass reports that the presidium of the supreme soviet of Tajikistan has banned the use of TV or radio to promote erotic publications, alcohol or tobacco products, nor may they broadcast programs which conflict with Tajik traditions or "human moral norms.".

The decree also shut down all non-state owned broadcast studios until a regulatory law "the draft of which is as yet only supposed to be worked out" has been adopted.

KAZAKHSTAN: PRESIDENT WELCOMES PM

New York, NY Feb. 16, 1994. "I have never been in favor of trying to artificially reduce our alcohol or cigarettes. Each individual must decide for himself. The main thing for me is that Western capital is coming to build business in Kazakhstan," said Kazak president Nursultan Nazarbayev at the UN today.

"As well as plantations of tobacco which are very useful to Philip Morris, people are getting work and Kazakhstan is getting a high quality product which we'll share with Philip Morris," he said.

Philip Morris has purchased 97% of the former Soviet republic's state-owned cigarette monopoly Almaty Tobacco Kombinatand. PM has said it would spend $200 million to modernize tobacco manufacturing and develop a comprehensive agronomy and leaf processing program to increase production quantity and quality. PM hopes to be producing 20 billion cigarettes a year within 5 years. PM also plans to locally manufacture its own brands Marlboro, L&M and Bond Street.

Kazakhstan is an acknowledged ecological disaster area:

• its Aral Sea is dried up due to over-irrigation of its rice and cotton crops, --its soil and water is contaminated due to fertilizer use
• Its people have been exposed to toxic fallout from rocket launches at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and to radiation from decades of nuclear testing at Semipalatinsk. "People were just guinea pigs and they were placed specially in this territory so that subsequently they could be investigated to see what the effect of these explosions were on human health," Nazarbayev said.

INDIA: TOBACCO COS. TO FIGHT GOV'T AD BAN

Under a new proposed bill, all tobacco advertising and event sponsorship would be banned in India.

A major battle with the tobacco industry is due next month, when the bill is to be tabled in parliament.

"There is no need to ban tobacco advertising when such a ban does not exist even in the U.S.A., Britain, Germany, Japan, China or Russia," said Amit Sarkar of the Tobacco Institute of India.

An Indian health official said, "We are aware that the cigarette companies will pull us to court as they have the money as well as the legal muscle." But, he said, "We have to keep our youth away from it."

The cigarette companies said the ban would mostly hurt farmers--a sensitive issue in this rural country. Tobacco is grown mostly in India's southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, which are already suffering, the industry says, because of high taxes on tobacco products.

India's crop of 1.1 billion pounds of tobacco is used mainly for domestic consumption. Though only 20 million of 890 million people in India smoke cigarettes, 100 million smoke local "biris"--leaf-rolled smokes--and another 100 million use chewing tobacco.

India bans cigarettes and chewing tobacco ads on state-run radio and tv, but tobacco ads in India abound in magazines, on urban billboards, and in cinemas

The broadcasting ad ban and health warnings requirements are currently imposed only on cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

NEPAL BANS SMOKING ON INDIA FLIGHTS

Katmandu, Nepal. Feb. 10, 1994. Royal Nepal Airlines has announced that in view of the increasing evidence of the dangers of second hand smoke, it is banning smoking on all its flights between Nepal and India, starting today.

INDONESIA, MALAYSIA FIGHTS SMUGGLING

Jakarta, Indonesia. Feb. 3, 1994. Rampant smuggling between Indonesia and Malaysia is costing both countries large sums.

Most of the smuggled goods are drugs, rattan, sugarcane and garlic brought from Malaysia into Indonesia, but an increasing problem is the smuggling of clove cigarettes from Indonesia into Malaysia, costing the Malaysian government in Kuala Lumpur millions of ringgit.

In recent talks with Indonesia, Malaysia has agreed to tighten its borders.

"Malaysia will not hesitate to hand out severe punishment to those found guilty," an official of Malaysia's Customs Office, after a meeting with Indonesian customs officials

A pack of 20 clove-blended cigarettes costs only about 50 cents (US) in Jakarta, making them a tempting product to smuggle into neighboring Malaysia.

MALAWI: POOR TOBACCO OUTLOOK

Malawi is still reeling from Southern Africa's disastrous 1992 drought, and many look ahead to a year of difficulty for the small, landlocked country of 8.7 million.

Though Malawi's economy grew 11.1% in 1993, due largely to its tobacco crop, those gains were offset by a 3.5% population growth.

Tobacco is Malawi's biggest export crop, accounting for 60% of Malawi's export earnings. It produces an average of a little over 100,000 pounds a year.

The outlook for 1994 is not good. "This year the rains have not only been late but uneven. In some growing areas, the crop is a disaster," said Jerry Jana, head of Malawi's Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "Add to that the lower tobacco prices on world markets and increasing consumer resistance because of the anti-smoking lobby."

In addition, Malawi is facing historic democratic elections May 17--the first in 30 years--and many investors are keeping out of Malawi until the results are in.

"Given the fact that tobacco exports are likely to decline further this year because rains were late, the recent financial liberalization measures which will push inflation up, plus the election factor, we are going to have a very difficult 1994," Jana said.

TOBACCO BUSINESS

TOBACCO GROWERS HEARTENED

Fred Bond, head of the Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corp,. heartened tobacco growers by pointing out that many alternate health plans don't involve tobacco taxes.

In the same speech, he offered encouragement to growers about a production quota reduction of 10% this year, due to manufacturers' plans to buy less tobacco. Many growers are dreading a possible 40% cut in 1995, but Bond said US Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy could modify quota cuts, and that Charlie Rose (D-NC) has proposed a bill to limit quota reductions to 10% or less per year.

Also in North Carolina, Rep Bob Ingles (R-SC) has stated that he now opposes a cigarette tax hike, though he still opposes tobacco use.

PM CLOSES BELGIAN PLANT

Brussels. Feb. 4, 1994. Citing continuing declines in European smoking, Philip Morris Belgium SA said it is closing its Brussels plant, which will result in the loss of 275 jobs.

The company said European smoking fell 7% since 1990, and a further decline is expected this year, largely because of increased taxes and government anti-smoking policies. Belgian cigarette taxes account for 75% of the ratail price, the company said.

PM indicated the plant was a loser anyway: small and out-of-the-way, "the factory's competitiveness continues to deteriorate," PM said.

PM has another plant in Brussels which wil continue to produce pipe and rolling tobacco.

MARLBORO SHARE REGAINED, PM SAYS

Scottsdale, AZ. Feb. 25, 1994. Philip Morris says that its flagship brand, Marlboro, has regained most of the market share it had been losing to low-priced no-name discount cigarettes over the last two years. In order to stop the deterioration, PM went mano-a-mano with the discounts last April 2, "Marlboro Friday," when it announced a 40% price cut on its premium brands, and ignited a costly price war with other manufacturers.

That war ended in December with a small but seemingly agreed-upon rise in manufacturers premium brand prices. But during the 9 month war, Marlboro's share climbed 4.7%, to 26.8% of the domestic market, recapturing "almost 90% of the business it had lost to discount over the past three years," according to PM executive vice president Geoffrey C. Bible. "Our other premium brands have also seen steady share gains since last summer's price reduction, recovering some of the share they lost to discount."

Even PM's Basic is the leading discount brand now, enjoying a 4.6% share, he said.

Bible made the remarks to industry securities analysts at a conference here, where he pointed to solid growth in the international market in 1993. PM earned $2.4 billion in operating income from international sales, which were up 9% last year.

Bible said PM's new "Next" brand now has a 1% share of the Japanese market, and that Latin America, where PM enjoy a 29% share, is the company's fastest-growing profit center.

Bible said the company is poised for profit growth in 1994, and he expects that "now that Marlboro's price is lower and it has recaptured smokers lost to discount, that the brand will return to its previous growth trend,"

He told the analysts the entire tobacco industry is focused on defeating "any increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes'" due to health care reform.

PM INCREASES DIVIDEND 6.2%

Feb. 23, 1994. Philip Morris announced it was increasing its quarterly dividend 6.2%, from $.65 to $.69 cents a share, despite a 37.4% decline in earnings in 1993. The dividend is payable April 11 to shareholders of record March 15.

RJR HAS UNUSUAL STOCK ACTIVITY

New York, Feb. 3, 1994. Responding to an inquiry from the NY Stock Exchange, RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp said it didn't know why its stock was trading so heavily today.

Usually the stock has a daily volume of 3.2 million shares. Today witnessed a volume of over 8.6 million shares. Stock was trading at 7 7/8, up 1/4 at last report.

JOSEPHINE CAMEL DEBUTS

New York, NY Feb. 18, 1994. A new RJ Reynolds ad blitz features female Camels partying at "Joe's Place," a duplex bar where male and female camels are depicted shooting pool, playing cards, throwing darts and chatting while smoking or holding lit cigarettes.

The new campaign, pulling females into the Camel mystique, can't help but draw increased attention to the controversy surrounding the appeal of Joe Camel to children.

The ads "are frightening," said Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's health research group in Washington. "Now female camels are being used to lure more young women to `Light up the night' and eventually die."

At the Federal Trade Commission, the ad will increase pressure on the 5 commissioners, who have been publicly urged by 27 attorneys general and the FTC's own staff to ban the Joe Camel ad campaign as "unfair" in that they target and addict children. The commissioners have been conspicuous by their inaction over the past several months.

"We're in gridlock," said a source in January. The commissioners "haven't buried (the matter), but it's gravely ill."

Joe Camel is expected to be specifically mentioned this Thursday in Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders Report on Smoking and Health.

Former Surgeon General Antonia Novello said, "It is my hope that the introduction of a female camel will be the straw that breaks the camel's back of public and policy opinion."

An RJ Reynolds spokesperson said, "no one has put forth credible research to back up accusations about our ads attracting teenage smokers."

She said RJR has studies that show that despite children's high awareness of Joe Camel, "kids still don't like smoking. And that should be their position. We don't want them to want to smoke."

The spokeswoman said Reynolds' responsibility is to its shareholders, and it would be wrong to interrupt a campaign because of anti-smokers' criticism.

John Mezzina, chairman and executive creative director of Mezzina/Brown, the New York ad agency that created Joe Camel, said the ad was about sociability, and was meant to obviate concerns the original Joe was too aloof. "Some could think Joe is like Michael Jordan, in that he is too cool and unapproachable," he said. "This ad is about inclusion."

The campaign is in conjunction with a Camel Cash promotion, whereby smokers collect Camel packs for redemption for "trinkets and trash," merchandise like baseball caps and cigarette lighters with the Camel or Joe's Place logo.

The Reynolds spokeswoman said purchase of the merchandise is restricted to those over 21.

The ads are four-color pullouts that started appearing this week in People, Us, Glamour, Redbook and Sports Illustrated.

Ironically, People magazine just announced what the New York Times called "an ambitious effort to promote charities that have particular significance for its readers."

People is giving up over $3 million in advertising space to charities for:

• women with ovarian cancer
• children with AIDS
• homeless children

The Times article said most People readers are baby boomers, mostly women, with children of their own.

"We have 10 million male readers and 20 million female readers, but People feels more like a female magazine," said Ann S. Moore, president of People. "We should be promoting and selling causes that women care about. Every time we dabble in women's causes, we have been stunned at the response."

The Times quotes Leo Greenland, chief executive and chairman of Smith/Greenland Inc., an advertising agency: "I think that more and more, Corporate America is getting a social conscience,"

RJR STOCK ISSUE FEEDS RUMORS

Feb. 24, 994. Food and tobacco conglomerate RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp said it plans to raise $2 billion through the issue of 300 million shares of preferred stock (PERCS), which will be converted into common stock in 3 years. The company said it plans to use the earnings for general corporate purposes, such as debt refinancing, but said it may use the money for "one or more significant corporate transactions." The weighty phrase could mean a merger, spin-off, joint venture or acquisition, although Chairman Charles Harper said, "There is no specific transaction out on the table."

Harper said $500 million would be used to pay down debt. "That leaves about $1 1/2 billion to look at other opportunities," he said.

The company has about 1 billion shares outstanding.

Indications are that the investment banking industry pros are once again sniffing around RJR, their tails waving.

Wall St. Journal tobacco specialist Eben Shapiro, writes that the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, "It is likely that the company's tobacco and food businesses would be separated should certain of the foregoing (significant corporate) transactions be consummated."

Shapiro cited rumors RJR may merge with cigarette company Rothmans PLC or Hanson PLC. It may also be interested in acquiring Borden, Inc. He said RJR's announcement 'is likely to generate a fresh round of proposals from investment bankers."

The $2 billion would improve the company's balance sheet and make other companies more willing to undertake a partnership with the debt-plagued company.

When Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co bought the company for $29.6 billion in a fiercely contested leveraged buyout in 1989, the company expected to cash out in 5 years, and many anticipate they will do so this year. The offering could be seen as an attempt to increase RJR's value.

The stigma of tobacco has traditionally led to undervaluation of tobacco companies' stock. Thus tobacco companies have bought or merged with food and other consumer product companies. The RJR parent company, sensing RJR tobacco is holding down Nabisco, has periodically tried to separate the two arms.

However, Shapiro says, "restrictive covenants" tied to RJR's debt make a separation difficult. Last year, RJR tried to issue a stock tied solely to the company's food business. The effort failed when consumer-product prices declined.

Shapiro quotes Max Holmes, high-yield bond strategist at Salomon Brothers, "This transaction looks like it could be an effort by KKR to monetize its investment in the tobacco company. The way this deal is structured, the owner of these Percs could end up as equity owners of the tobacco company."

In the SEC filing RJR says that should the company's businesses become separated, the Percs could be converted into shares in the tobacco business.

"They are telling you in red letters that you could end up the proud owners of a very leveraged tobacco company," Holmes said.

Shapiro mentions a fragrant proposal by Morgan Stanley & Co. called "Project Flower," in which the food business (code name: milk) would be separated from tobacco (honey), which would then merge with British tobacco giant Rothmans.

He also cites investment banking industry rumors which name state-run Japan Tobacco and British giant B.A. T. Industries as potential purchasers of RJR's tobacco business.

PM, RJR CUT DISTRIBUTOR REBATES

Philip Morris and RJR are boosting their bottom lines by cutting the distributor rebates, or "push money" they have been granting distributors.

After the devastation wrought by the cigarette price war after "Marlboro Friday" last April, and the resulting drop in 1993 profits, both companies have vowed to increase the profitability of their tobacco arms.

The trend started three weeks ago, when RJR cut in half its 60 cent per carton rebate on its Monarch and Best Value discount brands. Philip Morris then cut the rebate on its Basic brand to 30 cents, and Brooke Group Ltd's Liggett Group followed.

Now Friday, Feb. 4, Philip Morris told its distributors it was cutting altogether the 30 cent per carton rebate on Basic, a discount brand which is now the third best-selling brand in the country.

"Push money" has been used as a sales incentive, to encourage distributors to push a particular--usually recently introduced--brand. The distributors can use the extra money for retailer incentives and promotions.

Philip Morris also said that on Monday the company would reduce by 30 cents a carton its off-invoice discount on its Famous Value Brands deep-discount cigarettes. The two moves could raise operating profit by $43 million, without increasing cigarette prices.

CONVENIENCE STORES TAKE CIG SALES FROM SUPERMARKETS

New York, NY. Feb. 24, 1994. One of the fastest-declining products in supermarket sales are cigarettes, according to a Wall St. Journal survey based on scanner data.

Cigarette sales are being lost to convenience stores, which cater to shoppers more interested in convenience than price, and at the same time the stores appeal to budget-conscious buyers by offering plenty of budget brands, including, possibly, a chain's own private label brand. Pennsylvania's Uni-Marts Inc.'s own "Sebring" brand accounts for 25% of the chain's total cigarette sales.

Also, convenience stores' smaller inventories allowed them to react faster to 1993's unexpected price cuts.

Cigarettes hold an ever-increasing percentage of convenience store sales, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores: 26.5% in 1992, up from 24.9% in 1991.

Supermarket owners also complain they must keep cigarettes locked up more in recent years, to protect from pilferage.

SMOKEFREE ZONE AT TOBACCO HQ

Washington, DC. Feb. 17, 1994. Eight floors below the Tobacco Institute, the tobacco industry's powerful lobbying arm, the "No Smoking" signs went up this week: the office building's food court went smoke free.

The winter cold had driven many smokers inside, and vendors and retailers began to complain that "it got to be a little too much," according to Jerry Masoti, general manager of the complex.

"I think they understand," Masoti said of the Tobacco Institute's reaction.

"We are urging them to reconsider," said Tobacco Institute spokesman Thomas Lauria. "A lot of building managers have panicked. They are sending customers and tenants out into the February weather."

SOCIETY

KIDS SMOKING MORE

Smoking went up 1 to 2% among teens in 1993. The ongoing survey of 51,000 teens in over 400 schools found these percentages of daily smokers:

8% of 8th graders

14% of 10th graders

19% of 12th graders

The University of Michigan survey found only 53 percent of eighth graders see smoking a pack a day as a great risk.

70 percent of seniors see it as a great risk.

Also increasing in use were marijuana, LSD, amphetamines inhalants like glues, solvents and aerosols. Alcohol abuse remained down. 28% of seniors said they had 5 or more drinks at a time at least once in the previous 2 weeks, down from 41% in the early eighties.

Cocaine held steady.

In attitudes, fewer students disapproved of drug use, or saw it as risky.

Blacks reported the lowest rates for legal or illegal drugs, at any grade level.

The figures are nowhere near the figures of the early 70s, but are a reversal of the declines of the last decade. In 1979, 60% of seniors had tried marijuana, whereas 35% had in 1993.

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala said, "Every new generation of young people needs to hear the same clear and unambiguous message: Drugs are harmful. Drugs are deadly. Drugs are illegal. Drugs will destroy your life."

Shalala said she'd appeal to the heads of television networks, movie studios, record companies and sport leagues to help spread the message.

ABA WANTS TOBACCO ADDRESSED

Kansas City, MO. Feb. 4, 1994. The American Bar Association issued a report today that said any drug policy must also attack tobacco and alcohol dependency.

"Advertisers have to stop glamorizing alcohol and cigarettes for young people," said John P. Driscoll Jr., who oversaw the report.

The 27 page report released at the ABA's annual convention, says that present drug policy gives ""little or no attention to the devastating effects of alcohol and tobacco,"

which it says are "responsible for more deaths on an annual basis than all illicit drugs combined."

The report urges all levels of government--federal, state and local--to:

• "aggressively discourage the use of alcohol and tobacco among adolescents and the abuse of alcohol among adults."
• expand programs for helping youths using tobacco, or abusing alcohol.
• foster social disapproval of tobacco use and alcohol abuse.

"The day-to-day impact of substance abuse on the lives of children and adults lies in stark contrast to the priority these issues receive on the nation's agenda," the report said.

Driscoll foresaw some criticism from other lawyers over the report, especially from those working for tobacco companies.

BIG TAX DOLLARS IN SALES TO KIDS

Washington, DC. Feb. 11, 1994. Kids bring an estimated $122 million into local, state and federal coffers through cigarette taxes, a study reported today.

The money is received through illegal sales to minors in states that fail to enforce their own rules.

The study author, Dr. Michael Cummings of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York said money from those sales should be targeted at measures to enforce the laws. "Children are the key when we look at tobacco, because ... you very rarely see a smoker who started beyond the age of 21," he said. "But we're just letting them buy cigarettes over the counter, easy."

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, and using data from 1991, when minimum age laws ranged from 16 to 19 (today most laws set the minimum age at 18), found that the cigarette industry reaped $94 million from illegal sales to minors.

Cummings urged for the adoption of high taxes, both locally, as in Massachusetts' recent 51 cent tax rise, and federally. He called for higher taxes than Clinton's proposed 75 cent per pack increase.

He pointed out that US taxes are lower than the rest of the world, citing Denmark's $3.48 tax, and Canada's (until this week) $2.91 tax.

Thomas Lauria of the Tobacco Institute said high taxes simply created a black market.

He also blamed retailers for the illegal sales, and said the tobacco institute is trying to encourage compliance with the law by sending out 2 million "It's the Law" posters that detail age requirements, and educated retailers about how to check ages and deal with angry teens denied cigarettes.

"We're trying to help toughen up" enforcement of underage sales laws, he said.

ELDERS ASKS KIDS TO HELP OTHERS STOP SMOKING.

Chicago, IL. Feb. 1, 1994. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders asked kids to help other kids stop smoking today.

In a speech to students at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry today, she said, "If you have a friend who's smoking, I need you to stop them. I know that many young people are sipping beer, or having four to five drinks a week. You may not be doing that. But help me with all of those friends of yours out there who do."

The occasion, on the first day of Black History Month, was the opening of the Museum's "African Americans in Medicine." exhibit. The museum honored 24 black physicians, including Elders.

WALL ST. JOURNAL VS. THE ACLU

New York, Feb. 1, 1994. In an editorial today, the Wall St. Journal came out against the ACLU's charge that a Glen Ridge, NJ high school's policy--that students must sign an anti-drug and -crime pledge before being allowed in athletic programs--is unconstitutional.

The ACLU told the Journal that the case came down to the question of students' rights and the "school's effort to extend the scope of control over students' lives."

The school's policy received attention when a student was arrested for underage drinking. The school removed the student from after-school activities, and required meetings with counselors.

The ACLU charged these moves sought to influence out of school behavior in a "coercive" way.

The editorial, in part reads,

"The school has done its charges the honor of expecting them to keep pledges, uphold agreed-upon standards of legal behavior (and also of maintaining an acceptable academic grade). To confront anything like exacting standards and expectations is, for many young people, a well-nigh exotic experience nowadays. No wonder Glen Ridge students gave the school policy their whole-hearted support."

(The ACLU's position) "is a perfect example of the kind of abstract high principle that has unhinged sanity and common sense in our time. It is of a piece with the kind of reasoning that caused the de-institutionalization of the mentally iII--who are now, thanks to civil-libertarians, no longer 'coerced' into taking medication, or confined where they can do neither themselves nor others any harm, but are now free to live in doorways, in squalor and degradation.

"To hear, furthermore, objections to a school's efforts to influence 'out-of-school behavior' is especially strange, in an age when schools are called upon to do everything for students that once was the duty of parents, including giving instruction in sexual practice and morality. 'Schools don't have the authority to control activities outside of schools,' argues the ACLU of New Jersey. The ACLU might want to try telling that to the people handing out condoms in the schools.

TEENS BUY CIGS EASILY

Charlotte, NC. Feb. 14, 1994. Teens illegally bought over 250 million packs of cigarettes in 1991, according to the Rosewell Park Cancer Institute in Charlotte, N.C. The sales brought in $692 million for tobacco companies and retailers involved in the illegal sales.

KIDS IGNORE JOE CAMEL, RJR SURVEY FINDS

New York, NY. Feb. 21, 1994. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company today released a study of its own mascot Joe Camel, which concluded that the smoking dromedary "is not causing youth to start smoking."

The Roper Starch national survey of over 1,100 young people aged 10-17 was conducted Nov. 1-18, and was funded by RJR.

The survey found that Joe Camel is not the most memorable brand icon for children, and that his recognition does not change children's negative associations about cigarettes.

The survey indicates that "Joe Camel is no more recognizable to youth than any other advertising character, that the character has not made Camel the most notable brand of cigarettes among young people, and that it does not create or change attitudes about smoking among youth," said Harry O'Neill, vice chairman of Roper Starch Worldwide.

"This survey reinforces previous learning that while youth may recognize Joe Camel and other cigarette advertising, it does not change their negative feelings about smoking. Clearly, the results strongly suggest that Joe Camel is not enticing kids to start smoking. Almost universally, those youth who associate Joe Camel with cigarettes have a decidedly negative view of cigarettes, with only 3 percent indicating they do not have a problem with cigarettes and 4 percent having no opinion."

O'Neill said the survey first asked youths to recall the last ad they saw. Only 2% named a cigarette ad. During questioning involving 9 other product categories, only 58% had seen ads for cigarettes. Both percentages are well below the percentages for other products.

73% recognized Joe Camel unaided, , significantly less that the 94-99% recognition factor for all but one of the 9 other ad icons. Heavily recognized icons included Little Caesar, the Energizer Bunny, Tony the Tiger, the Keebler Elves, Ronald McDonald, and the Jolly Green Giant

Only 37% recognized Elsie the Cow.

No one remembered any cigarette brand slogans while 52% rememered Nike's slogan; only 3% recognized Pepsi's or Miller Lite's.

HEALTH GROUPS ATTACK RJR SURVEY

Feb. 22, 1994. This week the surgeon general's 23rd report on smoking and health will focus on youth smoking and Joe Camel in particular; a new report was released smoking among underage girls has risen with the targeting of young women by tobacco ad campaigns; and the coalition on Smoking or Health is filing a petition with the FTC to ban all tobacco advertising that targets children.

"All this stuff is going on this week, it doesn't surprise me that Reynolds would have a survey conducted to fit what its needs are," said Scott Ballin of the Coalition on Smoking or Health.

"What Reynolds has done by spending millions of dollars to promote a cartoon character is to convince at least a segment of the young population that smoking isn't as bad as it's made out to be, and that's recognized by their own studies."

ADS LEAD TO GIRLS' SMOKING RISE, STUDY SAYS

Feb. 22, 1994.. The AMA released a report saying that advertising contributed to a sharp increase in cigarette smoking by young girls between 1967 and 1973.

The increase far outstripped increases by boys, or even by women over 18.

`Clearly, something in the environment was very effective in stimulating demand for cigarettes only among these girls," said study author Dr. John Pierce of the University of California, San Diego

Pierce said the tobacco companies' campaign during this period to attract women worked too well, and is responsible for the increase. The Virginia Slims tennis campaign, notes the study, began in 1967.

PRESS RELEASE: TOBACCO USE PREVENTION PROGRAM OFFERS YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES FOR INTERVIEWS

In anticipation of the release of the 30th U.S. Surgeon General's Report, which will focus on tobacco and youth, the Smoke-free Class of 2000, a tobacco use prevention project of the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, has available youth representatives to discuss why they don't use tobacco. The Smoke-free Class of 2000 will reach nearly three million sixth graders nationwide this year.

Created in 1988, the Smoke-free Class of 2000 is a 12-year tobacco use prevention program for students who entered 1st grade in 1988 and will graduate from high school in the year 2000. Now in its sixth year, students are learning refusal skills against tobacco through video presentation, activities, and classroom discussions. Many students at both the community and state level have been successful advocates for a tobacco-free environment.

To arrange an interview with youth spokespeople from your state or to obtain more information on the Smoke-free Class of 2000, call contact below.

CONTACT: Gail Joyce, SFC 2000 Coordinator, 800-562-4447

ARBY'S BANS SMOKING

Fort Lauderdale, FL. Jan. 25, 1994. Smoking will be banned in Arby's 257 corporate-owned restaurants nationwide by this summer.

Arby's made the announcement before the General Public Forum on Passive Smoke in Fast-Food Restaurants at the Multi-State Working Group on Tobacco Forum, held in Washington, DC by the Attorneys General of 16 states.

"In light of the recent EPA announcements and the pro-active stance the Attorneys General offices are making, Arby's wanted to move ahead on eliminating environmental hazards for customers and employees," said Don Pierce, Arby's President and CEO.

"Approximately 40 percent of Arby's hourly employees are between the ages of 16 and 18 and classified as minors, and we wish to provide them a more healthful working environment."

Pierce expressed support for federal legislation of nonsmoking in fast food restaurants, and said he would urge the 2,248 franchised Arby's restaurants to ban smoking also.

A McDonald's spokesperson said, "Today we have more than 2,200 McDonald's that are smoke-free, which is more than any other restaurant company in America."

600 of Burger King's more than 5,300 franchised restaurants ban smoking

Sears, Roebuck & Co. banned smoking in its 799 stores last Jan.

In malls, Ernest Hahn Co went smoke free in its 48 malls nationwide, and Chicago-based Homart Development Corp. said about two-thirds of its 31 shopping centers across the country will soon be virtually smoke-free.

TEXAS SUES MCDONALD'S, OTHERS ON SMOKING

Houston, TX Feb. 17, 1994. Texas attorney general Dan Morales sued 5 fast food chains today, claiming their tolerance of smoking is endangering the health of the children they attract both as customers and workers.

"Every informed American knows that smoking kills. We know that it kills not only smokers but also people surrounded by smoke," he said..

The suits were filed under Texas' Deceptive Trade Practices Act against McDonald's Corp, Pepsico Inc.'s Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell units; Grand Metropolitan PLC's Burger King; and Long John Silver's Seafood Shops.

The suits note that the companies design advertising, special meals, playgrounds and promotional activities to attract children, but then expose them to second hand smoke by not having separate ventilation systems for smoking sections. Without such systems, the suit states, second hand smoke is not controllable.

It is "false, misleading and deceptive" to suggest such sections protect the public from second hand smoke, the suits allege.

The suits seek to force the companies to either ban smoking altogether, or stop advertising of nonsmoking sections unless they are separately ventilated.

Morales is one of 17 attorneys general who have been urging fast food chains to voluntarily control smoking, but today's action caught the industry off guard.

At a meeting with the fast food industry just 3 weeks ago the attorneys general had agreed not to bring litigation while negotiations were proceeding.

But today Morales acted alone, and said the action was taken because 18 months of discussion had failed to bring about voluntary change. He sued only fast food companies because "we believe that where children are most at risk ... that's where our efforts should begin."

He said 25 percent of fast-food customers are children and 40 percent of fast food employees are under the age of 18.

MCDONALD'S BANS SMOKING

Oak Brook, IL. Feb. 23 , 1994. McDonald's Corp banned smoking in its 1400 company-owned restaurants, effective immediately. About 80% of McDonald's restaurants are independently owned, but this move now brings to 3,600 the number of McDonald's restaurants which are smoke-free--over 1/3 of its 9,100 sites nationwide.

"We're doing this because we believe it's the right thing to do for our customers and our employees," said Ed Rensi, president and chief executive of McDonald's USA.

"We hope our initiative helps build support for federal legislation sponsored by (Democratic) Congressman Henry Waxman of California, which requires all public places to be smoke-free. In our view, this kind of legislation is the only fair way to approach the issue, because it treats all public places equally under the law."

McDonald's said it would encourage its other restaurants to do the same. Most contracts block the chains from dictating to franchise owners certain day-to-day policies like smoking.

In related news, the National Council of Chain Restaurants, which represents 90,000 fast-food establishments and 2 million employees, also endorsed Waxman's proposal, the Smoke-Free Environment Act, which would prohibit smoking in most public and commercial spaces.

Restaurant consultant Ron Paul of Technomic, Inc., said, "given the report on secondhand smoke, the industry may be forced to change, whether it wants to or not, mainly because of litigation. You know you're a sitting duck for a lawsuit at some time in the future."

NY: WHITE CASTLE BANS SMOKING

A smoking man's home is not White Castle. The company's New York Area Office announced that effective March 14, smoking will be banned in metropolitan area White Castles. The fast food chain has already banned smoking in its outlets in Chicago and Cincinnati.

"More than seventy-five percent of the adult population are non-smokers, who will not be affected by this decision," said Area Manager, Vincent Reilly. "Only twenty percent of our customers dine inside our restaurant and they spend 15-20 minutes eating. We believe from the smokers we've talked to that this is a reasonable request of their time not to smoke."

AA TO OFFER SMOKE-FREE LONDON FLIGHTS

Dallas, TX. Feb. 8, 1994. Starting May 1, American Airlines will offer two non-smoking flights a day between NY and London.

"In a recent customer survey, a significant number of participants preferred non-smoking flights," said an American spokesperson.

"SMOKING," "NO SMOKING" PREMIERE

Berlin. Feb. 14, 1994. Two films by Alain Resnais, "Smoking" and "No Smoking" debuted at the Berlin film festival today.

The two French films have a total of 16 different endings which hinge on whether a woman lights a cigarette or not at the beginning of the film.

"Not only my life but all of our lives could have turned out completely differently with only the slightest change of events at some point," the 72-year-old Resnais said. "Life is a game of roulette, a game of chance. One tries to live life as one can, not as one wants."

One reviewer called the films interesting but tiring.

TOBACCO MOVIES TO LENS

New York, NY. Feb. 1, 1994. Acclaimed director Wayne Wang is working on a movie called "Smoke," to take place in a Brooklyn tobacco shop and to star Tom Waits. He is looking for Brooklyn types with thick accents.

Just picked up by Mel Gibson's production company is a new movie based on an unpublished novel by Christopher Buckley, son of conservative William F. Buckley. "Thank You for Smoking," is about a tobacco lobbyist who has a change of heart and starts battling the tobacco industry.

SPORTS

VA. SLIMS KICKED OUT IN CHICAGO

Chicago, IL. Feb. 7, 1994. The University of Illinois--Chicago has told the Virginia Slims tennis tournament that after its contract has expired this year the tourney must change sponsors or leave the University's Pavilion, where it is usually held..

The University has been under pressure from health groups to break the association, and picketers have been a common sight in recent years.

In a letter today, Chancellor James J. Stukel said: "We have never felt as if we were endorsing smoking by hosting the Virginia Slims tournament, and we believe most people separate the athletic event from the cigarette company that sponsors it. Nevertheless, the tournament does represent a relationship, however tenuous, between UIC and a cigarette company, and we feel that the university should not have a relationship with any tobacco company."

CHINESE SOCCER CLEANS UP

Beijing, China. Feb. 1, 1994. Chinese soccer officials have banned players from smoking, drinking, having long hair or wearing rings during play.

The officials hope the rules will help China's achieve its goal of reaching World Cup standard within ten years. The Beijing Evening News said the new rules will give players discipline, a fighting spirit "and the strength to resist the worship of money pleasures that are corroding the morale of sports teams."

The newspaper also said the rules were petty, and asked, "What has Ruud Gullitt's long hair to do with his sporting excellence?"

PEOPLE

GREER DISGUSTED BY TOBACCO SMELLS

London. Feb. 7, 1994. When Germaine Greer said she would accept any homeless into her house, she didn't reckon on the British Press reporting it as her saying to the world, "Come on over," publishing her address and sending to her home scores of undercover "homeless" and low-flying aircraft.

Greer had written in the London homeless magazine, The Big Issue, "If you are homeless and think you could accept what is being offered in the spirit in which it is offered, write to me care of this paper."

She recalled in the article her difficulties before her 1969 work "The Female Eunuch" made her famous.

"I slept on pillows that smelt of other people's saliva, lived with sofas that stank of other people's incontinence and cigarettes,"

Now she says she plans to sue a British journalist who posed as a homeless person, stayed at her house in Essex for two days, and wrote an article about it for the British Mail

Greer said, "He definitely lied and cheated his way into my house and exploited my kindness and tolerance."

She said in her regular article in The Guardian that she was suspicious of him, but took him in thinking he was mad.

"He smelt overwhelmingly of stale sweat and tobacco," she wrote.

JOHN RAITT

Bonnie Raitt, in an interview with Mary Campbell of the AP, said of her father, Broadway musical star John Raitt:

"One thread I'm proud of is his integrity, how much he cared, how he makes each performance as good as it possibly can be. I like to think some of that rubbed off.

"He could have had more exposure playing Las Vegas, but he didn't want to be around hecklers, cigarette smokers and people not paying attention. He didn't care about being a star at any cost."

OBIT: HOWARD TEMIN, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER

Madison, WI. Feb. 7, 1994. Howard Temin died this week. The molecular biologist won his 1975 Nobel Prize for Medicine for genetic research. He discovered an enzyme which became crucial to the biotech industry in the development of genetically engineered drugs like human insulin, and which was later instrumental in the identification of the AIDS virus.

He died of a rare form of lung cancer. Though he never smoked, he was an avid anti-smoking proponent.

WORLD'S OLDEST WOMAN TURNS 119

The world's oldest woman, Jeanne Calment celebrated her 119th birthday today in a retirement home near Arles, in southern France. She is in good health, but is slightly deaf and has cataracts.

Asked about her longevity, she quoted her doctor who said her best asset was her sense of humor. "I know that I will die laughing," she has said.

According to the French press she gave up her two cigarettes a day 2 years ago, but still has a little chocolate each night before bed.

RELATED ISSUES

BEER ADS DO SWAY KIDS, STUDY FINDS

A study that could have a profound affect on advertising has found that beer ads on TV change kids' attitudes toward drinking, and make them more likely to intend to drink when they get older.

Beer advertisers, like the tobacco industry, have long made the claim that their advertising does not influence children, but only persuades adults to switch brands.

The study surveyed almost 500 fifth and sixth graders about their thoughts on drinking.

"Awareness of television beer advertising was related to more favorable beliefs about drinking, to greater knowledge of beer brands and slogans and to increased intentions to drink as an adult," said researchers. "The findings provide support for the hypothesis that awareness of alcohol advertising influences children's drinking beliefs, knowledge and intentions."

James F. Mosher, executive director of the Marin Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems in San Rafael, Calif said in an accompanying article in the American Journal of Public Health that the study "convincingly refutes" the beer industry's contentions and accused them of callous irresponsibility.

"The beer industry's refusal to reform its marketing practices reflects a fundamental lack of concern for public safety and the health of our youth," he said.

The study was done by the Berkeley based Prevention Research Center and the University of California School of Public Health, and was supported by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

THE FUNNY PAGES

JAY LENO ON ARBY'S SMOKING BAN

Los Angeles, CA. Feb. 3, 1994.

"They want to make sure when you eat your big, rare, roast beef with cheese, large fries and a shake, that you do it in a healthy environment."

KEVIN NEALON ON COLON CANCER

New York, NY. Saturday Night, Feb. 5, 1994..

"Well, 2 new studies this week claim that smoking can increase a person's risk of colon cancer, although the studies admitted that the smokers most likely to suffer from colon cancer are those who inhale really, really deep."