    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [February 12, 1996]
    [Pages 239-242]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Roundtable Discussion on Tobacco Use Prevention and an
    Exchange With Reporters
    February 12, 1996

    [Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala thanked the
    President for his leadership on the issue of tobacco and children and
    described the participants in the discussion.]

        The President. I'm looking forward to it. First of all, let me
    welcome all of you here to the White House and to the Oval Office.
        As I'm sure you know, this is an issue that has concerned me for
    some time, and there are real reasons for it. Three thousand young
    people start smoking every day, even though it's illegal for them to do
    so. A thousand will have their lives shortened because of it. Smoking
    tobacco is the largest single cause of preventable death in the United
    States every year. And while there are things the Government can do
    about it, we need your help.
        When I gave my State of the Union Address I said that our country
    has seven great challenges for the future, but the first and most
    important is to strengthen our families and give all of our children
    back their childhood. In the case of teen smoking, the Food and Drug
    Administration is reviewing about 700,000 comments from citizens before
    deciding what to do to discourage the marketing, the advertising, the
    sales of cigarettes to children more. We just promulgated what it called
    the Synar regulation, named in honor of the late Congressman from
    Oklahoma, Mike Synar, which requires States to take stronger stands to
    discourage teen smoking and to set a goal of reducing teen smoking by
    about 80 percent over the next several years.
        So we're working hard, but we know we've got to have your help. We
    know this has got to be a partnership. I think the most important thing
    I've learned as President is that while Government can't solve all of
    our problems, we have no business going back to a time when everybody's
    left to fend for themselves. These are things we have to do together.
    And I want to compliment the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and, of
    course, the National PTA--thank you so much--and the American Cancer
    Society and all of those who are going to create this National Center
    for Tobacco-Free Kids. This center is sort of a symbol of how I think
    America ought to work, because it will involve the best national experts
    but, more importantly, community groups, all kinds of grassroots groups
    of people working together to try to deal with this issue.
        And I just want to thank you and say that I hope that your presence
    here today and your work and your concern, especially the young people,
    will be a symbol that will, through the help of all these fine people
    here covering us, go out across America so that others will do that.
        I mean, the ultimate issue here is to protect our children more and
    to give more control of family life back to parents. I don't think many
    parents want their children to start smoking. And parents, not
    advertising, should control that. Children should have a chance to learn
    within the family unit, within the school, within the churches, within
    the community, without being bombarded by all kinds of destructive
    messages that will knock them off track. So ultimately, this is an
    effort that will give some dimension of real control and values back to
    the family, which is what we want to do.
        Well, I'd like to spend the rest of the time listening to you. We
    could start--Donna, how should we do it?

    [Secretary Shalala introduced several teens who had done a survey in
    their neighborhood on tobacco sales to youth, and they described how
    easy it was for them to buy cigarettes.]

        The President. Out of the places you went, how many carded you and
    how many sold?

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    [The young people said that about 60 percent of merchants sold them
    tobacco. One participant said she and a friend had surveyed 50 stores.]

        The President. Fifty?
        Participant. Yes.
        The President. Wow.

    [A participant said that they were able to purchase cigarettes from 11
    vending machines but found one for which the merchant would sell a token
    only after seeing identification. Secretary Shalala then introduced the
    president of the Robinson High School PTA, who discussed their efforts
    to have vending machines removed.]

        The President. Let me say, all of you are from Virginia. Hasn't the
    Virginia--isn't there a new proposal before the Virginia Legislature to
    take much stronger positions? And I--all I know is what I've read about
    them, but it appeared to me that they were really moving in the right
    direction.
        Participant. One is, as far as carding.
        The President. What does it do?
        Participant. You will have to have picture photo I.D. in order to
    purchase. That one will work. But for all intents and purposes, right
    now I'm afraid that the vending machine one is getting watered down.
        The President. In Virginia when you get a driver's license, do they
    put your picture on it?
        Participant. Yes, sir.

    [The participants added that they doubted that the Virginia law would do
    away with vending machines.]

        The President. Well, one of the proposals that we are considering,
    that's being considered here by the FDA, is the question of whether
    there should be no vending machines in any place that children have
    access to. If you're going to have vending machines, maybe they should
    just be where only adults can come in.

    [A participant said that advertising for tobacco seemed to be
    increasing, especially in African-American and Latin-American
    neighborhoods. He noted that there were two antitobacco initiatives
    before the District of Columbia City Council and asked for the
    President's help in getting them passed.]

        The President  I didn't know that. Thank you for telling that. I'll
    see what we can do about it.
        Participant.  You're a resident.
        The President. Let me just say one thing about the advertising. I
    have said this before, but I want to reiterate. If anyone doubts the
    impact of the advertising on the children, you have only to look at the
    evidence that children are much more likely to buy the three most
    heavily advertised brands than adults are. Adults are more likely to
    shop, buy generic brands, cut their costs, you know. Kids go right to
    the advertised brands. I think it's something like 85 percent of all
    cigarettes sold to young people are the three most heavily advertised
    brands.

    [A participant said that ads strong enough to overcome smokers' brand
    loyalty were too strong to be used around children, and that children
    did not connect the potential for physical harm with their own use of
    tobacco. Another participant said she thought that ads contributed to
    peer pressure to smoke.]

        The President.  That's what her letter to me says: ``I'm glad you're
    trying to stop teens and other people from smoking. There are already
    enough people dying from diseases, and I don't want any more people to
    die from diseases. I think these are the diseases you die from, like
    lung cancer, throat cancer, and other diseases caused by smoking. What
    I'm trying to say is, please stop young people and teenagers from
    smoking. We are tomorrow's future.'' Good for you. Good luck.

    [A participant described being caught smoking by a school security
    guard. Her mother described the parent-child Smokeless Saturdays program
    offered as an alternative to a 3-day suspension for children caught
    smoking.]

        The President. Let me ask you something. Do the young people in your
    school who smoke believe that it's dangerous?

    [A participant responded that they really didn't care.]

        The President. They just don't think about it one way or the other--
    --
        Participant. No.
        The President. I wanted to ask another question, if I might, because
    I want to--this is relevant, I think, to the PTA concerns. Do the
    schools in your school district, do they have programs like, for grade
    schoolers, which show pictures of lungs in people who have smoked

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    for a long time and all that? Are those programs in the schools?

    [A participant described a Fairfax County community coalition meeting
    for children and parents at which graphic slides and videos were shown
    on drug abuse and driving while intoxicated.]

        The President. The thing that made the biggest impression on our
    daughter when she was in grade school was--and Hillary and I talked to
    her about this--the thing that made the biggest impression on her was a
    class she had where they just showed them pictures of lungs in
    progression. And you know, she saw all these black lungs, and it made
    this vivid impression. And my mother had smoked all her life,
    practically, since she was a teenager. She started as a teenager, as
    most people do. And my daughter kept telling her what her lungs looked
    like--this 8-year-old beating up on her grandmother. And for her 8th
    birthday, my mother stopped smoking. That was her gift to her
    granddaughter for her 8th birthday.
        But that's why I asked you, because I thought it made a real
    impression on the children in the class. That's why I asked you that.

    [A participant said that with the high drop-out rate in large cities
    many children might miss classroom training but would still need to be
    reached.]

        The President. That sort of thing, I think you've got to do that
    early.

    [Several participants described school health education programs and
    advocated starting them at an early age and emphasizing the short-term
    consequences of smoking.]

        The President. One of the biggest problems we have in our country--
    and one problem I have as President and one problem everybody who's in a
    position of any kind of responsibility has--is dealing with the tension
    every human being has between thinking about what's happening right this
    second and what's right to do over the long run. And in the world we
    live in, the wonderful thing about it is that we get some much
    information about so many things so fast, in ways we never did before,
    we have so many options we never had before. It's a very exciting time
    to be alive, but it's also true that people are just being constantly
    bombarded with all these things. And I think when you're a young person,
    it's just harder to believe that every little thing you do has a
    consequence over the long run.
        And that's a problem for--it's been a problem throughout human
    history. It's part of human nature. But I think it's more difficult for
    young people today and particularly on this issue, which is why I think
    these groups are so important. All of your efforts really count. And I
    think that maybe the young people here, maybe that's the most important
    thing of all. I mean, I can't--does the peer pressure seem to work? Do
    you think you have any influence over your classmates?
        Participant. It's worth a try.
        Participant. Us?
        The President. Yes. Do they think you're kind of loony, or do they
    think you're doing something good?

    [One participant said that while she had no friends who smoked, she was
    confident that she would be able to convince a friend to quit. Another
    participant said that it was not that easy.]

        The President. To convince people?

    [The participant said that since he discovered that most people started
    smoking at a young age, he began teaching elementary school-age children
    about the harmful effects of tobacco products.]

        The President. Let me ask a question. Why did you get into this? Why
    do you care so much about this?

    [The participant explained that his godmother died of a smoking-related
    illness.]

        The President. What about you?

    [A participant said that she got involved because she found smoking
    disgusting and was annoyed that smokers ignored the risk of dying.]

        The President. You were great, all of you. This is very encouraging.
    I'll do what I can to support you. We'll keep working on it. We'll do it
    together.

    [At this point, the discussion ended, and the President took questions
    from reporters.]

    1996 Election

        Q. Mr. President, can we have your thoughts on the Iowa caucuses
    today? This is an historic day, obviously, for the American people. One
    specific thought: Did you think a year ago you

    [[Page 242]]

    would be unopposed for the Democratic Presidential nomination?
        The President. I don't know what I thought a year ago. I don't know
    if I thought about it. I hope I'll win tonight. [Laughter] That's my
    thought on the Iowa caucuses. I hope, as I told--you know, 4 years ago,
    there was effectively no campaign in Iowa because Senator Harkin ran
    and, as he well should have, he got almost all the votes there. And
    today, because there appears to be effectively no race in the Democratic
    caucus primary, I don't know how many people will go tonight. But I hope
    that the trip over the weekend made an impact, and I believe it did.
        I was, frankly, astonished by the size and the enthusiasm of the
    crowds and by the response to just a serious discussion of the issues
    facing the country and my determination to not let this election divide
    the American people and also not to let the citizens of this country off
    the hook by saying, ``Oh, I'm cynical. It doesn't make any difference.''
        Look at these kids. These children here--especially this young lady
    who was brave enough to come--[inaudible]--they are a stunning rebuke to
    the idea that it does not matter what ordinary citizens do in this
    country. It does matter what ordinary people do. These kids wrote a
    letter to the President; they get to come in here and talk about it. And
    it shows you what people can do if they work together. And so that's
    what I think people in Iowa responded to.
        I was exuberant about the weekend; I thought it was very good. I
    don't know what's going to happen in the Republican caucus. I don't have
    any idea. As you all know, the nature of the rules and the size of the
    turnout has a lot to do with that. So I really don't have a clue what's
    going to happen.

    Northern Ireland Peace Process

        Q. Mr. President, are you concerned that the British are no longer
    going to deal with Mr. Adams of Sinn Fein?
        The President. Well, let me say this, I think that all the parties
    are probably assessing and reassessing where they are and what is
    necessary to do now, but I intend to do whatever I can on behalf of the
    United States to try to restore the cease-fire and try to get the peace
    process going again.
        I can tell you this: I believe if you let the Catholics and
    Protestants in Northern Ireland have a say in this, it wouldn't be
    close. They do not want to go back to violence. They want to go forward
    to peace, and they expect the people who are representing them to be
    disciplined and mature and to peacefully work this out. That's what they
    expect to be done. And I just hope and pray it can be done.
        And I've been working--actually, I did some work last week before
    the cease-fire was broken, and I intend to do some more work this week
    on it. We will do everything we can to try to get the process back on
    track.
        Q. Do you think Gerry Adams can still be trusted after what happened
    in the last few days?
        The President. I said what I thought about what happened the last
    few days. We're going to look at all the evidence. We're going to see
    what we know and what we can do, and I'm going to do what I think is
    best to try to promote peace there. That's what I'm going to do. And
    that's all I can do.
        Thank you.

    1996 Election

        Q. Are you curious about what Republican candidate is going to
    emerge?
        The President. [Laughter] Well, I expect I'll know something by what
    happens in Iowa tonight, at least if the results are clear before
    bedtime. I'm just like you; I honestly don't know what's going to
    happen. And I have found it's not very fruitful to spend your time
    speculating on things over which you have no influence. And I have no
    intention of participating in the Republican primary. I'll let them
    decide who they want to run.
        Q. Do you like watching them fight it out among themselves?
        The President. Well, I don't know how to answer that. [Laughter]
        Thank you.

    Note: The discussion began at 1:27 p.m. in the Oval Office.