WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin today announced his intention to circulate a letter among Members of Congress urging tobacco companies to continue financing the American Legacy Foundation's innovative efforts to reduce tobacco use by children and teenagers. Durbin said he will begin circulating the letter to Senate and House colleagues later this week and hopes to gather even more signatures once the Congressional recess concludes next week.

Established in 1999 under the Master Settlement Agreement between the states and tobacco companies, the American Legacy Foundation has developed national programs that address the health effects of tobacco use. Tobacco prevention programs play a vital role in decreasing tobacco use among young people, and the Legacy Foundation's efforts have had a significant impact in reducing tobacco use among our nation's youth.

Under the terms of the Master Settlement Agreement, in March 2003, U.S. tobacco companies were no longer legally required to make annual payments to the fund which enables the American Legacy Foundation to educate Americans on the dangers of tobacco use. The payments are required only if participating tobacco manufacturers (Phillip Morris/Altria, Brown & Williamson, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard) control 99.05 percent of the cigarette market share. Although participating companies no longer meet that threshold, their share remains above 90 percent.

Following is a statement from Sen. Durbin:

"In 1964, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service officially recognized that cigarette smoking causes cancer and other serious diseases. However, 40 years later, tobacco use remains the nation's leading preventable cause of death. Tragically, tobacco use continues to affect the lives of millions of Americans, particularly plaguing our nation's young people. Today in the U.S., 4.5 million children under the age of 18 are regular smokers, and in the first three months of this year alone, more than 150,000 children have become new smokers."

"The truth® campaign, developed and implemented by the American Legacy Foundation, is the largest youth smoking prevention campaign in the country - and one of the most successful. In the two years following the launch of the truth® campaign, cigarette smoking among high school students fell from 28% to 22.9% -- a decrease of more than one million smokers. As a result of the continuous dedication of the American Legacy Foundation, millions of Americans are living healthier lives. To counter decades of youth-oriented advertising by tobacco companies, we need to continue those efforts."

"Unfortunately, the future of the American Legacy Foundation is in question. This year the foundation received its last payment from the Master Settlement Agreement. Because of this dramatic reduction of resources, all of the successes of the last 5 years are in jeopardy."

"Today, all of the former U.S. Secretaries of Health, Education and Welfare and Health and Human Services; all former U.S. Surgeons General; and all former Directors of the Centers for Disease Control launched an effort to convince tobacco companies to continue financing the public education fund and the American Legacy Foundation. I join them in speaking out on this critical issue."

"Each year, an estimated 3.76 million young smokers (ages 12-17) consume more than 900 million packs of cigarettes. This generates $480 million in tobacco company profits and produces a retail value of $1.86 billion. The tobacco industry says it wants to prevent young people from smoking; all we are asking is that they channel a small percentage of those profits into a youth anti-smoking campaign that will save millions of lives."

"Just a few weeks ago, many of my fellow colleagues in Congress joined with me in applauding the efforts of the Legacy Foundation and congratulating them on their fifth anniversary. I hope that they will also join with me in asking the tobacco companies to continue their support for this life-saving cause. Only with such concerted action can we avert millions of premature deaths and prevent future generations of young people from falling victim to the tobacco epidemic."

Contact: Joe Shoemaker, (202) 224-7028, joe_shoemaker@durbin.senate.gov

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