wfn.org | New United Methodist video supports tobacco control bill

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 8, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.       {348}
 
NOTE: This story is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS #349.

By United Methodist News Service

As the U.S. Congress debates tobacco control legislation, the social
action agency of the United Methodist Church has released a video
showing how cigarette makers have targeted children and contributed to
one of the nation's most serious health problems.

The 12-minute video was developed to mobilize church leaders to urge the
passage of bipartisan comprehensive tobacco legislation in the U.S.
House of Representatives and Senate. 

The proposed tobacco control bill (S. 1415), introduced by Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., would:
*	Protect tobacco farmers by helping them shift from tobacco to
other crops;
*	Increase the price of cigarettes;
*	Give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate
nicotine as a drug and tobacco products as drug-delivery devices;
*	Fund anti-tobacco research, counter-advertising, and education
and prevention campaigns;
*	Prohibit all commercial advertising of tobacco products.
	
Congress has an unprecedented opportunity to enact legislation that
would reduce teen smoking and save lives, said the Rev. Thom White Wolf
Fassett, top staff executive for the Washington-based United Methodist
Board of Church and Society.

"We believe sustainable and well-funded tobacco legislation would
significantly reduce tobacco use among children and adults," he said.

Church leaders are being encouraged to use the video to increase
awareness about the dangers of tobacco. Tobacco causes the largest
number of preventable deaths in the United States and kills more
Americans than AIDS, drugs, alcohol, car accidents, homicides, suicides
and fires combined, Fassett noted. Tobacco use among children has
steadily increased in the past five years, he said.

Board officials cited data that shows teens and children buy more than
half a billion packs of cigarettes and 26 million containers of
smokeless tobacco each year. At current rates, they say, 5 million
children and youth may die as a result of smoking.

The United Methodist Church's top legislative body adopted a resolution
in 1996 expressing outrage at the marketing techniques aimed at children
by leading cigarette manufacturers, specifically Philip Morris and RJR
Nabisco.

#  #  #

NOTE TO EDITORS: The video can be bought for $5 (including shipping and
handling) by calling the General Board of Church and Society at (800)
967-0880 or by writing 100 Maryland Ave. N.E., Washington, DC 20002.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/