Remarks Made by Key Attorneys
General on the Tobacco Deal
403 B East New Bern Road, Kinston, North Carolina 28501
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Friday, June 20, 1997; 6:23 p.m. EDT
Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore:
- Thank you for your patience. We know we're a couple of hours late today. And I'm not here today to tell you I'm still optimistic -- or
that we have made progress, or to do any advertisements for the ANA smoothies today.
We are here today to announce what we think is -- we know, we believe, is the most historic public health achievement in history.
As most of you know, we have been in a grueling negotiation that has sometimes been humorous, sometimes been rocky, sometimes been hard, in
the last week been the most contentious thing I've ever seen in my life, down to the last couple of minutes. We'll discuss some of the reasons probably from some questions that you may have in a minute as to what the delays were. Be glad to answer those questions.
But the purpose of us coming today is to tell you that we have reached agreement, in principle, with the tobacco industry. The attorneys general of America, the trial lawyers of America, the public health community of
America has fought a war, a very long war.
I remember, Grant, when we first filed this lawsuit in Mississippi in May of 1994. I remember my governor, what he had to say about it. I remember the frivolous lawsuit mentions, that most people said, ``Oh, they don't have a chance. Never amount to a hill of beans,'' as they say in Mississippi.
And we knew then that we needed to build an army. We began to build an army, and the army that we built were the attorneys general, the
men and women with the most courage I've ever seen in this country.
We also built an army of public health officials, who began to come on line, everybody from the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, our tremendous friends with Tobacco-Free Kids, and many, many more.
We stand here today, we hope, planting the flag, the beginning, if you will, to victory against the tobacco industry. But we also stand here in humble recognition of the 50 years of fighting that's gone on before us. You see, we're really just the folks who get to carry the flag today. We're not the folks who started this war. We've actually only built on what most people have done in the last 50 years; famous doctors like Lester Breslow out in California, who's been fighting this war for over 50 years; pioneers all across the country; recent heroes, such as David Kestler at the Food and Drug Administration, whose work we built on, we think, and we could not have even achieved half of what we've achieved without his courage; C. Everett Koop, who everybody in America knows has been after the tobacco
industry for a long period of time, has been a hero of mine for quite some time, and we are hoping to build on his work; and then the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, who has shown tremendous courage over the last
three or four years, taking on this industry. We have built on the work that he has started. And many, many more that we certainly wouldn't
have time to mention.
The negotiations began first day of April, and we're almost to the end of June. They've been about 90 days long. The litigation is, at this time, a little over three years old. It's been a long, hard struggle. I won't tell you that this is the end, this is really the beginning of the end for the way the tobacco industry has treated the American public and probably the
people in this world.
Remember, this is an industry who we claim, and we will prove -- and we must have been able to prove it -- that kills 400,000 people a year in
this country. This is an industry, as important to us as anything to else, that hooks 3,000 of our kids a day -- intentionally -- and will kill 1,000 of those kids prematurely from things like lung cancer, heart disease and
emphysema.
So we started this litigation with some goals, unified goals. We focused first and foremost and spent 80 percent of our time on the public-health goals of this litigation. When we finished, in simple words, we wanted to leave this much better than when we began. We wanted this industry to have to change the way they do business. And we have done that. We wanted the
industry to stop marketing their products to our kids, and we have come up with a comprehensive plan that will do that. We wanted to do something that would punish this industry for their past misconduct, and we have done
that. And we wanted to make sure that every single person, not only in America but this entire world, knows the truth about what the tobacco industry has done to the people of this world over the last 50 years. And we are satisfied that we have done that.
In the last three days, and especially three days ago, you heard us say that we had three issues left to resolve. And all the questions that you've had for us in the last three days have been about that. We knew then that there were three things that we had left to do. We had to punish this industry in such a way that everybody in this country and everybody in this
world would recognize that they had paid a higher price than any other corporation in history, because, frankly, this corporation has done more harm than any other corporation in history. And they have acted irresponsibly more than any other corporation in history.
What we have extracted from them in punishment for their past misconduct is an extra $60 billion in payment. And what we have hoped to do with that money specifically is to create a $25 billion trust fund that can be used for the public health of this country in such a way as a presidential commission will advise the president and the officers of this country in
the states.
We have also raised enough money, we hope, we believe, that will fully fund children's health care coverage in this country for those children in our states who don't have health care coverage. And rightfully so. Who better to pay for children's health care than those people who do more damage to our kids than any other industry in this country.
We also have punished the industry by changing the way they do business.
And each of my fellow attorneys general will tell you a different point that we have come up with, but I'll tell you specifically one that
we just finished. We just had a heck of a fight about what we think is a true American hero, Jeffrey Wigand. We had a holdout. The last thing we had left to do was to make sure that we didn't leave any prisoners or hostages on the beach. This industry wanted to continue -- or one piece of
this industry wanted to continue to punish Jeffrey Wigand, and we were willing to walk away from this deal completely -- completely -- if they didn't concede. They conceded, and Jeffrey Wigand will be free from the attacks of Brown and Williamson tobacco companies in the future, and we're very proud of that.
We have a whistle-blower provision that will protect everybody that has helped us in the past and everybody that will protect -- help us
in the future.
We also will destroy the Tobacco Institute that we think has been one of the organizations that has continued to breed this ill message and this distrust and contempt that has caused the death of so many people in this country. We'll also destroy the Council on Tobacco Research, who we also think has been a group that has been very untrustworthy and caused much damage to this country.
We'll do many other things, and I'll let some of my fellow attorney generals tell you. But the thing probably we're most proud of -- and
Christine will follow me and talk about -- is we have a plan we think that'll work, a plan that will reduce smoking in this country not
only for teenagers, which has been one of our main focuses, but also for adults in this country.
See, I've got a little boy. His name is Kyle, and he's 10 years old. And every day when I've been in the room, that's who I've been thinking
about.
And I also have a dad. He's about 76 years old, and has been smoking for a real long time. And I worry a whole lot about that. And it's my dad
and your dads and your moms and your grandpas and your grandmoms that we did this for. This is about the people and the public health of this country.
This probably the finest hour of attorneys general in this country. It's probably the finest hour for trial lawyers in America. And we're very proud of our folks who have helped us in this regard.
I'm going to turn it over now for some substantive comments by Christine Gregoire, who is the attorney general of Washington. And before I do, I want to tell you that this negotiating team that's behind me here has
spent thousands of hard hours -- and I know we look like it at this point -- working on it, but we basically represent the other attorneys general here.
And it's just as important for the first case, the Mississippi case -- and I have to tell you, I'm pretty proud of little Mississippi today for leading this -- as it is for California or even some of the other states who have gotten in just in the last week. We are united as a team. There are over 40 attorneys general in this, and probably before this is over and
completely done in Congress, we'll probably have close to all 50 states, we think. But this has been a battle that we all fought together, Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, men and women, and we are very
proud of what we've accomplished, and we're about to begin to tell you about it now.
Christine, if you would step up, please.
Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire:
- Well, first of all, I'd like to say thanks to the team, the team of attorneys general throughout this country who made this day possible.
I firmly am convinced that the industry would not be at the table but for the unification of the attorneys general of this country, who made it very clear that they would not allow the continued addiction of our children, they would not allow the continued premature death of the adults in this country, and it was time for that shroud of secrecy and deaths and addiction to stop.
But I want to stop most importantly to say it wouldn't have happened without the courage, and I mean courage and leadership, of Attorney
General Mike Moore out of Mississippi. It's been tough. It's been tough for three years for him, and I've seen it up close and personal over the last four months. And he has been a tremendous flag-bearer for all the attorneys
general of this nation. And each and every one of these individuals with whom I've served over the last four months, I'm proud of what we've
been able to accomplish.
And I'm particularly proud to have stood next to Matt Myers, of Tobacco-Free Kids. I believe this man is a hero in America. He stood firm
and he stood tall throughout these negotiations, did everything he could for children and for the adults of this country to make sure that there was a complete change in the conduct of this industry. And to Lonnie Bristow, Doctor, I thank you for your mentorship, your education, your leadership as
well for all these years. You've just been tremendous.
For me today, it's an opportunity for all Americans to take a fresh breath, a fresh breath for the kids of America, for adult smokers, and for the non-smokers of America. These lawsuits by these attorneys general were on behalf of those 3,000 children who were addicted every day by this industry. And we've done all we could in this document, a comprehensive plan for the president and Congress and the American people, to stop the
addiction of these children, to stop marketing and advertising to our children, and to begin the process of giving these kids a chance -- a
chance to have a longer life.
And to do that, one of the significant pieces that we've been able to negotiate is something some of you have become familiar with. It's
called the look-back provision. What it's intended to do is ensure that this industry in fact stops marketing to kids, but in a way where we can judge their performance.
We want, in 10 years, to have 60-percent reduction in youth smoking. And really what that translates to is almost 70 percent, based on the amount of children that are smoking today. We want that to happen. That's the performance standards that we have put out there for these companies.
And if they fail -- if they fail -- we want harsh penalties for every percentage point they fail. And those percentages, by the way, is to
disgorge them of all the profits they would otherwise make for addicting a child, over the life of that child. There is no financial gain to them, at all, to addict a child from this point forward.
Secondly, we do want to make sure that those 400,000, who died prematurely in this country, are not in fact, dying. That's what these lawsuits are about. In my estimation, if we really want a breath of fresh air in this
country, we can unlock that ability to do that through the FDA's jurisdiction over the product. And, yes, we fought hard, and you know we have in the last two weeks, and we've broken down over this issue. But if we really want to do something for the consumers of this country and the public health of this country, we have got to stop this addictive product.
Yes, we want to stop nicotine. That's not enough. We will not allow this industry to continue to market a deadly nonaddictive product in the future. We want a comprehensive approach. We want to ban, ultimately, this addictiveness of this product, and we want to reduce the harmful components in it, the tar and the other harmful components, so that one day we can have before the American public, a nonaddictive safer and, yes ultimately, a safe product for American consumers -- to save those 400,000 lives each year.
I believe we have given a comprehensive plan to the president and to the consumers of this country. And like Attorney General Mike Moore and those who stand with me today, I have been here on behalf of an 82-year-old other who has been smoking since the age of 13. I have been here on behalf of two teen-aged daughters, who I want to not only make sure they have a
chance, but I have left a legacy for them and their children, that the public health of this country will today mark a new step forward, a comprehensive plan to fundamentally change a conduct of an industry, to stop the marketing of addictive deadly products.
Moore: The next attorney general is Grant Woods
from Arizona. Grant's been my partner from the
West in this for quite a while, and we're awful
proud of him.
Thanks, Grant.
- Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods:
Thank you, Mike. I certainly want to join in what Christine said about Mike Moore. He's been an inspiration to all of us and an inspiration to
people around the country. He is an American hero. This was a tough, tough fight, and he started it, and today is one of the very principal reasons why we believe we've won it. We're talking about a number of substantive
things here, and I just want to point out a couple of them, if I can.
We're talking about a complete change in the way these businesses market their product and the way they advertise. And this is something we've been working on from day one in this about-three-month negotiation. But let's not lose sight of the gains that have been made.
When we started on the first day, sitting across from the CEOs of the two major companies, I don't know if we ever thought we could get what we actually achieved in this area. They are not going to be able to market
their product anywhere where children might be exposed to that advertising. All outdoor advertising in the United States related to tobacco will come down. It's over. You will never see another billboard for tobacco in this
country. It's not just around schools, it's anywhere, because children are everywhere.
There's going to be no vending machine sales of tobacco products again in this country, because children have ready access to vending machines.
We're going to see that at grocery stores and convenience stores across the country, where children often are, you will not have point-of-sale advertising anymore. If you walk in today you see the windows, the doors, every place a child looks they're exposed to an ad for tobacco. That day is over. The product is going to go behind the counter, and any ads and a
ny reference to the product is going to go behind the counter.
Sporting events will no longer feature anything to do with tobacco. Entertainment, concerts, anyplace where children might be, those days
are over. You will no longer see it. You're not going to see any products ever again that are related to tobacco companies -- the tobacco bags, shirts, backpacks, caps, jackets -- those days are over -- because they appeal to children. That was there design in the first place.
You see, we've accomplished in this agreement what couldn't be done by any court, what couldn't be done by any government. It could only be done by settlement, and it was only done by settlement because these companies
faced lawsuits that they believed they would lose.
I also wanted to cover what's going to be a new day, related to what the consumer sees on the package. For the first time, we believe that the label warnings are going to be real, and significant, and comprehensive. And they
reflect a change in the behavior of tobacco companies, a change that I don't need to tell anyone in America is significant.
The tobacco companies are now going to put on the front of their packages, in 25 percent size, the following statements. And the statements are important to remember, because I don't care what the company is -- Phillip
Morris, RJR, down the line -- they have fought these statements from the beginning. And they are telling the nation and the world today that they will no longer fight the validity of these statements. They no longer contest the truth of these warnings:
"Cigarettes are addictive.
Cigarettes cause fatal lung cancer.
Cigarettes cause cancer.
Smoking can kill you.
Tobacco smoke can harm your children.
Cigarettes cause stroke and heart disease.
Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby.
Quitting smoking now greatly reduces your risk to your health."
It is a historic occasion that finally, we can stop this debate. For my friend Joe Garagiolo in particular, back in Scottsdale, Arizona, I
want to mention the other four warnings that will no longer be contested, because Joe has fought an heroic battle against the ravages of spit tobacco, and what it's done to people all over the country, especially children.
He knows this is true. We know it's true. And now the tobacco companies will not contest.
Smokeless tobacco is addictive.
Smokeless tobacco can cause mouth cancer.
Smokeless tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarettes.
Smokeless tobacco causes gum disease and tooth loss.
These are messages that America needs to know, and the tobacco companies finally do not contest.
You can see, from the bullet points and from what Attorney General Moore mentioned, they're going to pay an awful lot of money. They're going to pay more money than any companies have ever paid in the history of the United States to settle a lawsuit.
But this isn't about $60 billion in punitive damages. It's not about $308 billion to settle lawsuits over a 25-year period -- which, by the way, I hope everyone will make clear. We did not settle for 25 years; this agreement lasts forever. After five years they will pay $15 billion forever, so you do the math. They'll also pay 3 percent on top of whatever they've been paying each year, to adjust for inflation. So this number becomes astronomical very quickly, but that's what they have agreed to
pay.
It's not about money. Let me ask you-all, let me ask the people around the country, how much would you pay right now to see that your parents could live another 15 or 20 years longer? That's what we fought for. How much
would you pay right now if you could ensure that your children would not die a premature, painful death, that they would live all of their years? What would it be worth to you? That's what this fight was worth to us.
Since we started these negotiations, over 100,000 Americans have died because they used tobacco products.
While we battled mightily over this agreement, across America, mothers and fathers and sons and daughters were in cemeteries and hospital rooms grieving for their loved ones. This fight was for them.
Today, in this country, 3,000 kids -- while we waited for this agreement, while we fought these last issues, 3,000 kids smoked for the first time. Three hundred thousand kids in America started smoking during the time we
negotiated this agreement. One hundred thousand of our American children will die because they started smoking while we worked on this settlement. We don't have time to wait to solve America's tobacco problem. We don't have time to wait through endless trials and appeals and negotiations any more.
That means we're going, as a group, to top law enforcement officers of our states across the country. We have enforced the law on these people, and we are going to fight with all of our might in the coming months to see that
nobody waits any longer to solve America's terrible tobacco problem. It starts today.
Thank you.
Moore: Bob Butterworth from Florida will be the next AG.
- Florida Attorney General Robert Butterworth:
Mike, thank you very much. Like the others, I'd like to say, Mike, you've been a great leader in this battle.
I can remember, a little more than three years ago, when Governor Lawton Chiles of Florida and I were attempting to get a bill passed in the
Florida Legislature, which would allow us to sue the tobacco companies in state court a little bit easier.
And Mike gave me a call in the middle of the night and said, "Bob, I understand you have some legislation." "Yes, Mike, I do." He says, "We plan on filing a lawsuit against tobacco within the next few weeks." And I
said, "Mike, you know, what we're attempting to do has never been done before in the United States. "He said: "It hasn't. It hasn't."
When we first started our lawsuit, there were three things each and every one of us stated, and that is that we wanted the industry to stop selling to our children, to stop targeting the kids. And as General Woods had just stated, those billboards will go down. In fact, there'll be no cartoon characters, there will be no human beings. In essence, the Marlboro
Man will be riding into the sunset on Joe Camel.
We also stated that we wanted the industry to tell the truth about the product to those people who could legally smoke, those being the
adults. With this agreement, the industry will tell the truth and the total truth about their product.
We also stated that they will pay for the damages to the states for the Medicaid reimbursements. And they will do that to the tune, in the next 25 years, of $368 billion. And over the next 50 years, which is a good
time to look at, it will be over $760 billion, as General Woods stated, 3 percent added on, at least, for cost of living.
These negotiations almost broke down a couple of short days ago, when we stated from this lobby that there are only two little things that are stopping us from an agreement -- the industry does not want to be regulated, the industry does not want to be punished -- but despite that, we're very close.
As it turned out, the industry is regulated. An industry that has never been regulated before is now the most regulated industry in America,
and that is the way it should be. And this industry has been punished and will be punished more than any other industry has ever in the United States because it should be, and it will be.
There are several elements of this agreement that are unprecedented in this nation's experience. One of those is the grassroots nature of how we all came here today. The documents hammered out over the past several months represent the contributions of every state attorney general in the nation. And participation by the attorneys general has come with a price requiring extraordinary political courage on the part of many, if not all, of us.
This agreement also would not have been possible were it not for the courage of so many cancer victims who stepped forward publicly to bear witness to the tragedy of cigarette smoking. We owe a debt to people like actor Yul Brynner, tobacco industry lobbyist Victor Crawford, and so many, many others for whom this agreement now serves as a legacy. We also owe a debt to the many courageous -- we owe a debt to the many courageous industry employees such as researcher Jeffrey Wigand. Dr. Wigand put his livelihood on the line to tell all of us in America the truth about the tobacco industry. A true American hero. And very well deserved. The long implications of this agreement remain to be seen, but one thing appears certain. With the agreement, Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man will move to the same chapter of our nation's history as asbestos, the Corvair and the Edsel -- and you know that's exactly where they belong. Thank
you.
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