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ASH has issued the following press release related to a legal action in New York State to shut down the Council for Tobacco Research USA (CTR) and the Tobacco Institute.

Following ASH's press release is a press release by the State of New York and related material.

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ASH's PRESS RELEASE:

ASH SUPPORTS NEW YORK'S EFFORTS TO SHUT DOWN TOBACCO FRONT GROUPS

GROSS ABUSE OF NOT-FOR-PROFIT STATUS PROVIDES ADEQUATE BASIS FOR COURT ACTION

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's oldest and largest antismoking organization, supports efforts by New York State to shut down two tobacco- funded organizations which have long served as fronts for the industry to cover up and distort information about smoking, death, and addiction.

"The powerful and enormously rich tobacco industry should no longer be able to deceive the public at taxpayer expense," says law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of ASH.

In legal petitions filed today in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, the State charges that the Council for Tobacco Research USA (CTR) and the Tobacco Institute "have acted in a persistently fraudulent and illegal manner by using their tax-exempt status to advance the efforts of the for-profit tobacco companies."

"For-profit corporations cannot lawfully establish tax exempt organizations to serve as fronts in disseminating misleading propaganda to the public, especially when the disinformation relates to the major preventable cause of death, disability, and addiction in the country," argues Banzhaf.

The industry itself has acknowledged, in documents recently made public, that these organizations were set up primarily to protect cigarette manufacturers.

For example, a spokesman at a 1978 CTR board meeting conceded that "CTR . . was set up as an industry shield."

In a second revealing statement, a board member stated that "CTR is the best and cheapest insurance the tobacco industry can buy and without it, the industry would have to invent CTR or it would be dead."

ASH may seek to assist New York State by entering the proceedings as a friend of the court on behalf of the antismoking community, Banzhaf said.

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STATE PRESS RELEASE:

News from Attorney General Dennis C. Vacco                    
FOR RELEASE Immediate, Thursday, April 30, 1998

        VACCO MOVES TO STUB OUT TOBACCO INDUSTRY "FONTS"

     Attorney General Dennis C. Vacco took legal steps today to
shut down two tobacco-funded research entities that served as
fronts to disguise the medical effects of smoking.

     In a petition filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan,
Attorney General Vacco sought to dissolve the Council-for Tobacco
Research USA, Inc. and the Tobacco institute, Inc., two tax-
exempt entities that were created ostensibly to provide the
public with honest research and information, but instead served
as propaganda arms of the industry.

     The move comes just three weeks after tobacco companies
abandoned efforts toward a new national smoking plan, and just
two days after cigarette maker Liggett & Myers announced it would
cooperate with a federal criminal probe of the two organizations.

     "CTR, disguised as a legitimate research organization, and
the Tobacco Institute together fed the public a pack of lies in
an underhanded effort to promote smoking and addict our kids,"
Attorney General Vacco said.

     "This action will ensure that the tobacco industry will no
longer be able to continue to finance their propaganda machine at
taxpayer expense," Attorney General Vacco said.

     Attorney General Vacco initially sought to dissolve the tax-
exempt entities as part of his landmark lawsuit against the
tobacco industry, filed in January 1997.

     He also fought to include a provision to shut down CTR and
the Tobacco Institute in the landmark national tobacco plan
announced last Summer.  After walking away from that plan earlier
this month, the industry announced plans to establish a third
entity to address teen smoking.

     CTR and TI are New York not-for-profit corporations whose
certificates of incorporation were filed in 1971 and 1958,
respectively.

     Attorney General Vacco,s motion argues that CTR and TI have
acted in a persistently fraudulent and illegal manner by using
their tax-exempt status to advance the efforts of the for-profit
tobacco companies.

     For example, Attorney General Vacco charged that:

          CTR was controlled and influenced by the tobacco
          industry's attorneys, and that CTR research was
          designed to aid the industry's legal battles against
          cancer-wracked smokers;

     CTR allowed tobacco industry lawyers to review and edit  scientific
     manuscripts before they were submitted for  publication, defying sound
     principles of scientific and academic freedom;

           CTR also created special accounts to include research projects and
           consultancies with money provided specifically by the tobacco
           companies and directed by the law firms.

     "By allowing tobacco industry lawyers to determine, or at
least participate, in supposedly independent research, and
influence public disclosure of its findings, CTR acted with total
disregard for the law that entitled them to form as a not-for-
profit," Attorney General Vacco said.

     Attorney General Vacco also charged that TI was established
specifically to create controversy and doubt about health claims
associated with smoking, and to design public relations campaigns
to mislead and deflect criticism about the tobacco industry.

     TI's nationwide programs in the area of youth smoking --
"Helping Youth Decide' and 'Tobacco: Helping Youth Say No' - - were
really designed to fend off regulation to curb adolescent access
to tobacco products and divert attention from tobacco company
marketing strategies, Attorney General Vacco charged.

     "The Tobacco institutes actions to influence youth smoking
are repugnant, illegal, and violative of New York's sound policy
against smoking by minors," Attorney General Vacco said.

                           A PACK OF LIES

             Big Tobacco's Scheme to Deceive Americans 
                     on the Dangers of Smoking 

     "CTR .. was set up as an industry shield'
                           - CTR special board meeting, 1978
     "Originally, CTR was organized as a public relations effort'
                       -- B&W vice-president Ernest Pepples, 1978

     "Let's face it.  We are interested in evidence which we believe denies the
allegation that cigarette smoking causes disease"
                          - H. Wakeman memo, 1970
           "In the interest of absolute objectivity, the tobacco industry has
supported totally independent research efforts"
                            -- Tobacco institute ad, 1970



           "Our objective is to bring a seemingly closed subject back to the
level of controversy in the public's mind"                          - Tobacco Institute
spokesman William Kloenfer, 1979

           "The American people deserve objective, scientific answers"
                        - Tobacco Institute ad, 1970

           "The question remains about whether or not it has ever been
established that smoking is causally related to disease'
                         -- TI spokesman Walker Merryman, 1997

     "CTR is the best and cheapest insurance the tobacco industry can buy and
without it the industry would have to invent CTR or it would be dead",
                          -- CTR meeting notes, 1978



Attorney General Dennis C. Vacco