How significant, and how genuine, are Philip Morris proposals on teen smoking?
It’s definitely a sign that they’re prepared to negotiate with the government. Some of the things they are proposing are things I suggested in “Ashes to Ashes” — like bans on vending machine cigarettes and promotional campaigns. Their proposal to take their logos off promotional merchandise, that’s something new, although it’s pretty minimal stuff. What they’re trying to do is woo the White House and say maybe we can work this out without the FDA. They recognize that the real peril to them is if the FDA takes jurisdiction over tobacco — which is what they said they intend to do. More than anything else, Philip Morris want to head that off. The only way to get them to sit down seriously is to grant them immunity from these product liability suits that are bedeviling them and costing them hundreds of millions of dollars. But I don’t think anything will happen until after the election. Will last week’s Supreme Court ruling to overturn federal bans on advertising liquor prices have any e
