NewsMax.com
Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001

According to the Associated Press:

These cards don't bear the images of sports heroes, so popular with kids back in the 1940s.

Instead, they depict scenes representing each of the 50 states, part of the tobacco company's "Celebrate America" promotion, and contain no advertising messages.

Paul Billings, a spokesman for the American Lung Association, seems almost resigned to the development.

"It's despicable," he commented, "but not surprising, unfortunately."

He and other critics view it as a violation of marketing restrictions on tobacco that are part of the $246 billion national settlement with the tobacco industry.

John Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health and a law professor at George Washington University, is about to have a fit.

"It's hard to believe that they can say with a straight face that they are not trying to attract kids," said.

"I know very few people my age who collect cards. I know a lot of teen-age kids who collect cards."

But RJR spokeswoman Jan Smith remained tranquil.

"These collectible cards," she said, "have no connection to youth smoking, period."

Rather, she insisted, they are in response to a survey of Doral smokers last year in which "nearly half of them told us that they are collectors and interested in collectibles.

"Providing them with these collectible cards aligns perfectly with their general interest in collectibles, plus their interest and pride in the heritage of their hometowns."