Teen Anti-Smoking Program to Get Funds
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The city of Los Angeles will receive $1.5 million for a teen anti-smoking program under settlement of a lawsuit that some credit with snuffing out the Joe Camel advertising campaign, officials said Tuesday.
The funds are part of a $10-million agreement announced Monday between the R. J. Reynolds Co. and 13 California cities and counties.
The 1991 lawsuit--filed originally by anti-tobacco activist Janet Mangini and later joined by local governments--accused R. J. Reynolds of illegally marketing Camel cigarettes to minors.
Los Angeles City Atty. Jim Hahn hailed the settlement as “the beginning of the end for the tobacco industry tactic of enticing children to begin smoking.”
RJR Senior Vice President Charles A. Blixt said the agreement “simply brings practical closure to this case.” He added: “This, in no way, should be construed as a concession on the merits of any of the claims in this case.”
However, RJR concedes in the agreement that the lawsuit was “an early, significant and unique driver of the overall legal and social controversy regarding underage smoking that led to the decision to phase out the Joe Camel campaign,” Hahn said.
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