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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release May 2, 1997

STATEMENT OF THE PRESIDENT

Today the Department of Justice filed a notice in the Greensboro U.S. District Court appealing the part of Judge Osteen's order that invalidated the Food and Drug Administration's tobacco advertising restrictions. The Department is asking for an expedited appeal, because every day of delay matters to our children's health. Each day, 3,000 children and young people become regular smokers, and 1,000 of them will have their lives cut short as a result of their smoking. And this problem of youth tobacco use is getting worse. The percentage of eighth and tenth graders who smoke has risen for four consecutive years. The FDA's common sense access and advertising restrictions would reverse this trend.

We will continue to work to protect our children from tobacco, and we will not stop until we succeed.

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