Word: tobacco
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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During his eight-year tenure as Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop campaigned passionately against cigarette smoking among Americans. Last week Koop took on the tobacco industry once again, but this time he was fighting the sale of U.S. cigarettes in Asia. Testifying before a committee of the U.S. Trade Representative's office, Koop blasted the industry's contention that the U.S. Government should pressure Thailand, which bans all cigarette imports, to open its market to American manufacturers. Said Koop, who retires Oct. 1: "At a time when we are pleading with foreign governments to stop the export of cocaine...
...Trade Representative, to break down Thailand's import barriers so that they can charge into that country's market. Specifically, the industry filed a petition under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 accusing Thailand of unfair trade practices. Hills is investigating the claim. But the American tobacco lobby is bitterly opposed by U.S. public-health advocates and the Thai government, which has the somewhat contradictory motives of protecting its citizens' health and defending the interests of its entrenched cigarette monopoly...
...move into Thailand would be the latest victory in an aggressive campaign by U.S. tobacco companies to conquer Asian markets. Since 1986, U.S. trade negotiators have helped cigarette makers break down import barriers in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. As a result, America's worldwide cigarette exports reached $2.6 billion last year, double the sales of 1986. The U.S. industry has come to depend on exports for growth, since a declining number of Americans are smoking. Consumption of cigarettes in the U.S. has fallen about 2% a year, to a volume of 562 billion...
...tobacco companies contend that they have a right to demand fair competition. Said Trade Representative Hills last week: "Where other nations permit local cigarettes to be advertised and sold, we say there may as well be U.S. cigarettes because we believe in nondiscrimination." Cigarette makers also insist that they are not inspiring new smokers but offering better choices for people who already have a taste for nicotine. Says Brenda Follmer, a spokeswoman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International, which sells the Winston , and Camel brands: "People say we are trying to make the Asians light up. But they're already lighting...
...charges soak up their earnings. RJR Nabisco, which went private last December in a record $25 billion buyout, last week reported a staggering $309 million loss for the second quarter. Reason: $1.05 billion in interest and debt expenses. In announcing the loss, RJR Nabisco said its basic food and tobacco operations, which include Nabisco cookies and Winston cigarettes, performed strongly; the company added that its program to sell assets was ahead of schedule. RJR Nabisco has already sold more than $2.5 billion of businesses, including most of its European food operations...