Lighting Up the Battle against the Tobacco Industry: New Regulations Prohibiting Cigarette Sales to Minors
![handle is hein.journals/rutlj28 and id is 721 raw text is: LIGHTING UP THE BATTLE AGAINST THE TOBACCO
INDUSTRY: NEW REGULATIONS PROHIBITING
CIGARETTE SALES TO MINORS
I. INTRODUCTION
On August 10, 1995, President Clinton held a news conference
announcing a broad executive action to protect the young people of the
United States from the awful dangers of tobacco.1 In his speech, Clinton
vowed to restrict the advertising and availability of cigarettes and tobacco
geared toward the nation's teens, by granting the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) the power to enact regulations.2 Following this
announcement, five of the major tobacco companies filed an injunctive and
declaratory action against the government in federal court, claiming that the
federal government was overstepping its authority.3 Also in reaction to this
announcement, Senator Ford introduced a bill in Congress entitled The
Tobacco Products Control Act of 1995,-4 which answered Clinton's
invitation5 to Congress to enact laws to avoid the proposed FDA rules.6
1. Presidential News Conference Transcript, CONG. Q. WKLY. REP. 2460 (Aug. 12,
1995) [hereinafter News Conference].
2. Id. Among the suggested regulations Clinton announced in his speech are:
First, young people will have to prove their age, with an ID card, to buy
cigarettes.
Second, cigarette vending machines which circumvent any ban on sales to kids
will be prohibited.
Third, schools and playgrounds will be free of tobacco advertising on billboards
in their neighborhoods.
Fourth, images, such as Joe Camel, will not appear on billboards or in ads, that
reach substantial numbers of children and teens.
Fifth, teens will not be targeted by any marketing gimmicks, ranging from single
cigarette sales to T-shirts, gym bags and sponsorship of sporting events.
And finally, the tobacco industry must fund and implement an annual $150
million campaign aimed at stopping teens from smoking through educational efforts.
Id.
3. Hillary Kessler, Big Suits: South, AM. LAW., Oct. 1995, at 96. The five companies
are R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Philip Morris Companies, Inc., Brown & Williamson
Tobacco Corporation, Liggett Group, Inc. and Lorillard Tobacco Company. The advertising
agency of Coyne Beahm, Inc. has also joined the suit. Two other similar suits were brought
against the government, challenging the proposed FDA regulations. One suit was filed by six
advertising and publishing associations and the other by smokeless tobacco companies. Id.
4. S. 1262, 104th Cong., 1st Sess. (1995).
5. News Conference, supra note 1, at 2460.
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Lighting Up the Battle against the Tobacco Industry: New Regulations Prohibiting Cigarette Sales to Minors
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