[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 25 (Monday, June 23, 1997)]
[Page 913]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Tobacco Agreement

June 20, 1997

    Less than one year ago, my administration announced an historic rule 
to protect children from the harm caused by tobacco products. Two months 
ago, a court in North Carolina issued a landmark ruling confirming my 
decision that the Food and Drug Administration has authority to regulate 
tobacco products to protect our children's health. These victories for 
the public health drove the tobacco companies to the bargaining table 
and extracted concessions from them that would have been unimaginable 
just a short time ago.
    I commend the attorneys general and other people working with them, 
including children's health leaders, for their hard work in negotiating 
this agreement in a way that seeks to advance our struggle to protect 
the health of children against the dangers of tobacco. They deserve our 
thanks for doing so.
    We must now carefully consider whether approving this proposed 
settlement will protect the public health--and particularly our 
children's health--to the greatest extent possible. Until now, we have 
not had the opportunity to review the actual terms of the agreement, and 
we have not concluded whether it is in the best interests of the public 
health. Over the next several weeks, we will undertake a thorough public 
health review. I am asking Bruce Reed, my Domestic Policy Adviser--along 
with Donna Shalala, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human 
Services--to engage in extensive consultations with the public health 
community and others to subject this agreement to the strictest 
scrutiny. They will report to me on whether this agreement represents 
the best means of protecting the Nation's public health interests.
    In the meantime, we will fight as hard as ever to ensure that the 
FDA rule stands. Each day, 3,000 young people become regular smokers; 
1,000 of them will have their lives cut short as a result. Protecting 
the health of the public and these children will be our measure of this 
proposed agreement.