    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [March 7, 1998]
    [Pages 337-338]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    March 7, 1998

        Good morning. Since I took office I've done everything in my power
    to protect our children from harm. We've worked to make their streets
    and their schools safer, to give them something positive to do after
    school and before their parents get home. We've worked to teach our
    children that drugs are dangerous, illegal, and wrong. This week we took
    a major step to protect our children, indeed all Americans, from the
    dangers of drunk driving by proposing bipartisan legislation to lower
    the legal limit to .08 in every State.
        Today I want to talk to you about the historic opportunity we now
    have to protect our Nation's children from an even more deadly threat,
    smoking. Smoking kills more people every day

    [[Page 338]]

    than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, drugs, and fires
    combined. Nearly 90 percent of those smokers lit their first cigarette
    before they turned 18.
        Today, the epidemic of teen smoking is raging throughout our Nation
    as, one by one, our children are lured by multimillion dollar marketing
    schemes designed to do exactly that. Consider this: 3,000 children start
    to smoke every day illegally, and 1,000 of them will die sooner because
    of it. This is a national tragedy that every American should be honor-
    bound to help prevent.
        For more than 5 years we've worked to stop our children from smoking
    before they start, launching a nationwide campaign with the FDA to
    educate them about the dangers of smoking, to reduce their access to
    tobacco products, and to severely restrict tobacco companies from
    advertising to young people. But even this is not enough to fully
    protect our children.
        To put an end to the epidemic, Congress must act. Last fall I called
    on Congress to put aside politics and pass comprehensive bipartisan
    legislation to reduce teen smoking by raising the price of cigarettes by
    up to a dollar and a half a pack over the next 10 years, imposing strong
    penalties if the tobacco industry keeps selling cigarettes to our
    children, affirming the FDA's full authority to regulate tobacco, to
    prevent children's access to tobacco products, and to restrict tobacco
    ads aimed at young people, so that our children can't fall prey to the
    deadly threat of tobacco. Now, we learned last month that if we do this,
    we'll cut teen smoking by almost half over the next 5 years. That means
    if we act now, we have it in our power to stop 3 million children from
    smoking and to save a million lives as a result.
        Today there are as few as 70 working days left before this Congress
    adjourns. On every one of those days, 1,000 adults will die from
    smoking. On every one of those days, 3,000 children will light their
    first cigarettes. On every one of those days, this Congress has the
    opportunity to stop it.
        Will this Congress be remembered for putting politics aside and
    protecting our children from tobacco or for letting the public health
    opportunity of a lifetime pass us by? There will be no greater measure
    of your commitment to the health of our children or the future of our
    Nation.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the
    White House.