American tobacco companies looking abroad

In walking away from tobacco legislation last week, Steven Goldstone, chairman of RJR Nabisco, vowed to increase market share for his products among American adult smokers. He pointedly did not mention that the area of real growth for his industry lies overseas. The tobacco bill that was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee contains important controls over how the industry exploits those developing markets.

While domestic consumption has dropped steadily in the past decade, cigarette exports have more than doubled. Consumption is zooming in Asia and former Soviet-bloc nations. The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide deaths from smoking-related diseases will triple to 10 million a year over the next 25 years, exceeding deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis or any other disease.

The Senate bill would limit how American cigarettes are advertised and sold abroad. Such measures are needed to prevent the industry from recruiting children in foreign countries to replace declining numbers of American customers. While industry leaders have said they will not market cigarettes to children overseas, they oppose any restrictions that would stop them from doing so.

The bill would impose the same restrictions on marketing to children abroad as would apply in America. It would prohibit the government from promoting tobacco sales overseas, and levy a 2- cent-per-pack fee on cigarettes sold abroad, to finance a new nonprofit center to assist international agencies in antismoking efforts. It would also give Washington more power to fight cigarette smuggling.

Enforcement will not be easy, but restricting the behavior of American corporations abroad is not new. Federal law, for example, makes it illegal for American companies to bribe foreign governments. Tobacco legislation would be incomplete if the industry were allowed simply to redirect its pernicious practices to lucrative new foreign markets.

-- The New York Times