ANTI-SMOKING ADS MUST BE DIRECTED AT STATE'S YOUTHS.

Byline: Lisa Bailey and David Bonfilio

WITH nearly $450 million being spent on marketing efforts each year in California by the tobacco industry, it is no coincidence that youths under the age of 18 are beginning to smoke at a rate faster than any other age group. The tobacco industry has made a science out of recruiting young people to smoke. In California, it is business asusual, as more than 300 children are persuaded to begin smoking each day. Promotions of cigarettes near schools and playgrounds and give-aways featuring leather jackets, turn naive, status-seeking teen-agers into lifelong customers.

Thanks to Proposition 99 - the initiative that imposes a 25-cent tax on cigarettes to fund statewide tobacco-control education and research programs - California has been successful at crafting messages effective in deglamorizing tobacco use, exposing the tobacco industry's exploitative marketing tactics and educating children about the dangers of tobacco.

Behavioral research has shown that teen-agers do not respond to images of older Californians suffering from tobacco-related diseases. The connection is too distant and vague for minds that have yet to grasp their own mortality. Instead, it is hard-hitting ads that portray the tobacco industry manipulating young people that make California youth rebel against tobacco.

Although Proposition 99 has succeeded in decreasing the rate of smoking, its level of success has been significantly hampered by the current administration's apparent defense of the tobacco industry. Despite clear evidence that labels the tobacco industry as the enemy in the war against tobacco, champions of Proposition 99 often find themselves spending more time and energy battling the state government than the tobacco industry.

The latest battle involves the media campaign that Gov. Pete Wilson once defunded to the point of near extinction, claiming it was ineffective. Ads exposing the tobacco industry's trickery were pulled off the air and nearly $10,000 was spent to cover up hard-hitting billboard ads and replace them with less effective ones. Those dramatic ads were not only effective in decreasing tobacco use, but also tobacco industry profits. It has now been nearly two years since new advertisements were produced and data suggests this lapse contributed to a 31 percent increase in youth smoking.

Although full funding of Proposition 99 has been re-established and a new campaign is in production, the Wilson administration has produced nothing but bureaucratic delays in the last eight months. Many health organizations, committed to upholding the integrity of Proposition 99, are deeply concerned about the administration's true intentions involving the new media campaign. Instead of embracing the views of qualified health organizations, like the American Cancer Society, the administration has dismissed them as unfounded and unrealistic.

Much has been said and done by the administration that suggests it intends to maintain its position of disallowing the production of ads that attack the tobacco industry. In a recent meeting between the American Cancer Society and the Department of Health Services, DHS officials would not confirm that the tobacco industry lies and manipulative marketing tactics aimed at youths can be exposed if the words ``tobacco industry'' are not even allowed in new ads?

Past experience has proved the type of media campaign necessary to help combat the tobacco industry's hold on our children. It is time for Gov. Wilson to stand up to the tobacco industry and immediately release hard-hitting, anti-tobacco advertisements that will save our children's lives.