Kluger 5-point Peace Plan


The Richard Kluger 5-Point Peace Plan

Excerpts from the April 7, 1996 New York Times Magazine article Dance with the Devil

...feel-good moralizing and name-calling fail to advance the true social imperative the issue demands: saving as many as possible of the more than 400,000 lives smoking takes annually in this country. . . it is time . . . to make a deal--to dance with the devil. . .

All sides, accordingly, may find this to be an auspicious time to consider a sweeping legislative compromise, embracing the following features:

  1. CONGRESS WOULD ISSUE A BLANKET GRANT OF IMMUNITY TO THE TOBACCO COMPANIES AGAINST ALL PENDING AND FUTURE PRODUCT-LIABILITY CLAIMS ON THE GROUNDS THAT THE HIGHLY HAZARDOUS NATURE OF SMOKING HAS BEEN COMMON KNOWLEDGE AND ADEQUATELY WARNED AGAINST.

  2. THE FDA WOULD BE GIVEN REGULATORY OVERSIGHT OF MANUFACTURE AND PACKAGING OF CIGARETTES, INCLUDING THE POWER TO SET MAXIMUM LEVELS FOR THEIR HAZARDOUS INCREDIENTS.

  3. HEALTH WARNING LABELS WOULD BE ENLARGED TO OCCUPY THE ENTIRE BACK OF ALL CIGARETTE PACKS AND WOULD CARRY FAR MORE INFORMATIVE LANGUAGE.

  4. PROMPT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROPOSED OSHA REGULATION RESTRICTING SMOKING AT MOST WORK PLACES TO WELL-VENTILATED ANNEXES AND OF THE FDA PROGRAM TO MAKE CIGARETTE MARKETING FAR LESS ALLURING TO YOUNG PEOPLE.

  5. THE FEDERAL CIGARETTE TAX WOULD BE DOUBLED TO 48 CENTS TO PAY FOR ENFORCING THESE NEW REGULATIONS. AN ADDITIONAL 2-CENTS-A-PACK LEVY WOULD PAY FOR AN ANTISMOKING ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN AND OTHER PUBLIC EDUCATION PROGRAMS LIKE FREE QUIT CLINICS, TO BE RUN BY THE OFFICE ON SMOKING AND HEALTH.

Such a five-point settlement . . . could save thousands of lives and go far toward reducing the severest effects of an infernal product that as a practical matter can never be outlawed or ever made truly safe.

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  • ©1996 Gene Borio, Tobacco BBS (212-982-4645). WebPage: http://www.tobacco.org).Original Tobacco BBS material may be reprinted in any non-commercial venue if accompanied by this credit

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