WASHINGTON REPORT

Kessler, Koop Say Scrap Tobacco Pact

Two of the nation's most respected public health experts urged Congress
yesterday to forgo tbe $368.5 billion legal settlement with the tobacco
industry and instead draft legislation that would focus solely on cutting
smoking rates, without giving cigarette manufacturers any concessions.

"You can do better than the settlement," Dr. David Kessler, former
commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said before the Senate
Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Former Surgeon General C.
Everett Koop told the lawmakers they should "face the scourge of tobacco
for what it is and legislate a tobacco policy that holds the industry
accountable."

The criticism by Kessler and Koop provoked a strong backlash from some of
the state attorneys general who helped negotiate the agreement.

"This shows that they progressively are going more and more into fairytale
land," said Grant Woods, the attorney general of Arizona. "They are
contemplating prohibition, and that's just not going to happen in this
country."