THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FACT SHEET ON PRESIDENT CLINTON'S TOBACCO PROPOSAL

CHILDREN AND TOBACCO: THE PROPOSAL

The Clinton administration is proposing a comprehensive and coordinated plan to reduce smoking by children and adolescents by 50 percent. It builds on previous actions taken by Congress and others such as the ban on television advertising and state laws to prohibit the sale or use of tobacco by children. It follows recommendations by the American Medical Association and the Institute of Medicine. Experts have consistently recommended that the keys to achieving the goal are: reducing access and limiting the appeal for children. This ambitious initiative accomplishes that objective, while preserving the availability of tobacco products for adults.

The proposals announced today include:

Reducing Easy Access by Children

• Require age verification and face-to-face sale and eliminate mail order sales, vending machines, free samples, self-service displays and sale of single cigarettes ("loosies") and packages with fewer than 20 cigarettes ("kiddie packs").

Reducing Appeal to Children

• Ban outdoor advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds. Permit black-and-white text only advertising for all other outdoor advertising, including billboards, signs inside and outside of buses and all point-of-sale advertising.
• Permit black-and-white text only advertising in publications with significant youth readership (under 18). (Significant readership means more than 15 percent or more than 2 million. No restrictions on print advertsing below these thresholds).
• Prohibit sale or giveaway of products like caps or gym bags that carry cigarette or smokeless tobacco product brand names or logos. Prohibit exchange of non-tobacco products for proof of purchase of tobacco products.
• Prohibit brand name sponsorship of sporting or entertainment events, but permit it in the corporate name.
• Require industry to fund ($150 million annually) a public education campaign to prevent kids from smoking.