wfn.org | Children's Access to Tobacco

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3143 notes).

Note 3142 by UMNS on Aug. 27, 1996 at 16:49 Eastern (5670 characters).

SEARCH:   Tobacco, cigarettes, children, FDA, Felton May, Harvey,
          Fassett
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                          428(10-71){3142}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           Aug. 27, 1996

Restrictions on tobacco marketing to children
draw praise from concerned United Methodists

     WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- Announcement of restrictions on tobacco
marketing to children by President Clinton has been applauded by
United Methodists who attended the Rose Garden event Aug. 23.
     The new regulations ban vending machines in all but adult-
only locations and require photo identification to verify age at
sales counters, prohibit giving free samples or selling packages
of less than 20 cigarettes, and prohibit the use of giveaways that
bear brand names or logos.
     Other provisions of the regulations end cigarette brand
advertising at sporting events, stop the display of billboard
tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds,
reduce to black-and-white text-only advertising in publications
whose readership includes 2 million youth or 15 percent of the
readership, and limit billboards and signs to black-and-white text
only except in adult-only establishments.
     Implementation of the rules is spaced from six months to two
years down the road, but court challenges could further delay the
process.
     The regulations are aimed at preventing smoking by children,
whose purchase of tobacco products already is prohibited by all 50
states.
     Present at the White House event were Bishop Felton E. May,
newly assigned to the Washington Area; his wife, Phyllis H. May;
and Jane Hull-Harvey, co-chair of the Interreligious Coalition on
Smoking OR Health and an assistant general secretary of the United
Methodist Board of Church and Society.
      "It is an historic moment for our country when tobacco
companies have -- for the first time -- been stopped from
marketing to children," said Harvey. 
     Saying the set of regulations is narrowly focused toward
children and youth and largely advertising related, Harvey
commented that these rules keep children from having to be
bombarded by "Joe Camel," "Marlboro Man" and other images that
make smoking seem attractive.
     "And it does give them a fighting chance to lead lives that
are tobacco free," she added. "We must look at the economic issues
in relation to children and youth and must say to the tobacco
companies, 'You are not free to make our children tobacco
dependent for the rest of their lives.'"
     She termed such dependency economic exploitation of children
and pointed out that the Social Principles of the United Methodist
Church contains a clear statement about the rights of children and
the duty of adults to protect them from economic, as well as other
forms of, exploitation.
     May termed the new regulations "a quantum leap forward in
providing good health for children and youth." He urged church
members to become involved in education and prevention as it
relates to tobacco misuse and abuse.  
     He cited the curriculum "Born Free/Stay Free," developed
about five years ago by the National Division of the United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries, which clearly says that
tobacco is addictive and nicotine is a drug.
     "Every pastor and every church school teacher and youth
worker that does not utilize 'Born Free/Stay Free' curriculum or
curriculum similar to that ought to be brought up on disciplinary
charges for inadvertently supporting the premature death and poor
health of God's children!" May declared. "It's just that serious."
     The bishop also commended the Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett,
general secretary of the Board of Church and Society; Harvey; and
Jerald Scott, program director for the denomination's substance-
abuse prevention, "because they have been vigilant in support of a
growing consensus among church and governmental leaders that this
step should have been taken years ago."
     May also praised President Clinton and his administration for
doing it now. May said he thought the action showed leadership on
the part of the President "in the face of a very strong tobacco
lobby and industry that is global."
     Fassett issued a statement Aug. 26 in which he applauded
President Clinton's approval of this national policy to prevent
tobacco companies from marketing "their deadly product" to
children.
     "This historical action arrives at a critical time when
smoking is at a 16-year high," Fassett said. "Smoking among youth
in grades 9-12 has increased from about 27 percent in 1991 to
almost 35 percent in 1995."
     Every day some 3,000 additional children start smoking, he
continued, adding that the total is more than a million children
who take up the practice each year.
     "Consequently, one-third of these young people will die from
their addictions," he said. The new regulations will spare some
180,000 children annually from inevitable suffering caused by
tobacco-related deaths, Fassett concluded.
     He urged pressing lawmakers to take equally effective steps
related to alcohol and other drugs.
     Saying the tobacco lobbyists already were storming Capitol
Hill on the first working day after the announcement, Harvey
predicted a battle in Congress over the rules and urged church
members to "stand firm" and "be aware of our church's strong
positions" on tobacco abstinence and economic exploitation of
children.
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