10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 3, 1997 E.U. to decide on tobacco advertising, sponsorship ban SPA, Belgium (AP) - Health long has been a formidable marketing tool in this eastern town -- the original spa resort. Yet health concerns, Mayor Joseph Houssa fears, may cripple his comm unity. Spa is the proud host of Formula One Grand Prix racing on the famed Spa- .Francorchamps track. It boasts motor- cycle and rally races and a popular cul- tural festival. All of them are sponsored by tobacco companies. Now, intent on fighting cancer deaths linked to smoking, the European Union may outlaw such sponsorship. Tomorrow it will consider an outright ban on tobacco advertising. Tobacco-sponsored events generate about $58 million a year for the region - income that H oussa, a nonsmoker, is determined to protect. "We will defend it to the day we die," Houssa said. "The consequences are simple: Ban tobacco advertising and it is finished with the races. It's finished with the cultural festival." Billboards, banners, and all other forms of public tobacco advertising would be prohibited under the proposal to be taken up tomorrow. The only exemption would be advertising inside stores that sell tobacco products. Current laws on tobacco advertising vary in each E.U. nation. There is only one common rule: tobacco commer- "More than half a million E U. citizens die as a result of cancer from smoking and the use of tobacco products every single year=" - Padraig Flynn E.U. Health Commissioner cials on television are prohibited. The new legislation would prohibit tobacco advertising in magazines and newspapers published within the E.U. It would force t~he closure of clothing stores selling "Marlboro Classics," an apparel line bearing the Marlboro logo. If the ban is accepted by the E.U. leadership, all 15 member nations would enact the law, a process that usu- ally takes about two years. Any nations failing to enforce the law could face court action by EU officials. "It's gone on for far too long," E.U. Health Commissioner Padraig Flynn said in an interview. "More than half a million E.U. citizens die as a result of cancer from smoking and the use of tobacco products every single year." More than 40 percent of European adults, smoke and Flynn is convinced that advertising continues to pull unwitting victims toward disease and death. The tobacco industry says advertising offers existing smokers a choice of brands. Tobacco companies carry clout and their advertising has become so inter- woven in public life that a sudden sepa- ration would wreak havoc in many communities. In poor regions of southern Europe - Greece's Trace, Italy's Puglia, and Spain's Extramadura - tobacco offers a direct livelihood to some 200,000 people, from tobacco growers and pick- ers to cigar rollers. In addition, workers who rely on tobacco-sponsored events would be threatened. Worldwide, Formula One racing gets some $200 million a year from the tobacco industry. Other sports with a global appeal such as ten- nis and yachting similarly draw huge incomes. FILE PHOTO A customer reaches for a pack of cigarettes on display. Lawyercs sue for larg er payment The Washington Post When the state of Florida announced a $11.3 billion settle- ment with the tobacco industry in August, Gov. Lawton Chiles (D) said the state had "reached a victory of historic proportions." What might turn out to be equally historic, however, is the size of the fees demanded by some of the attorneys who worked for the state - and the ugliness of the dispute over the money. Some lawyers in the case are suing for immediate payment of what could turn out to be more than $200 million each - as much as $2.8 billion altogether -arguing that is what they are owed under the original 25 percent contingency fee deal they signed with the state. "A deal's a deal," said Sheldon Schlessinger, one of the attorneys fighting the state. But Florida officials negotiated a different deal with the industry. Under that agreement, the industry, not the state, would pay all legal fees and the amount would be determined by a panel of arbitrators. Two weeks ago, a state judge in Palm Beach sided v ith the state. Ruling that the attorneys' demands were "uncon- scionable and clearly excessive," Circuit Judge Harold Jeffre* Cohen ordered the attorneys to arbitrate their fees. The dissi- dents have since sued to have the judge removed from the case, The case is being closely watched. It's a nail-biting drama for those supporting a national tobacco policy based in part on the settlement proposal last June between the industry and the states and private attorneys suing it. The Florida squabble, and possible similar fights brewing in other states, represents an eruption of precisely the kind of monetary infighting pro- ponents had hoped to avoid. Yale Corp.' to review tobacco holdings Yale may join Harvard, other universities in divesting stock Yale Daily News NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale Corporation will review its tobacco holdings policy within the first six months of the new year, Corporatioi members said earlier this week. Members of the Yale Corporation would not say last night if they dis- cussed tobacco divestment at their meeting last Saturday. President Richard Levin will deliver his summary of the meeting today. He and other administrators said last night that the meeting was routine - at least as much as one of the University's to policy-making body can be. But Corporation member John Pepper, Jr. '60 said while the possibili- ty of divesting from tobacco stocks was not discussed this time, "it's something to be reviewed during the first six months of 1998." The Corporation Committee on Investor Responsibility, a subcom- mittee of the Yale Corporation, reviews Yale's holdings in tobacco and other controversial stocks in it* analysis of investment ethics. An advisory committee, composed of Yale students, faculty and alumni, also makes recommendations when asked, but has no decision-making authority. The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility will meet with- in the next week and a half for the sec- ond time this year, committee member Lawrence Lipsher '62 said. 4 Lipsher added that the committee has "met once very quickly" this year, and if tobacco divestment was an agen- da item at the Corporation meeting, "it was not something that they advised us about." As of June 30, Yale held $16.9 mil- lion in tobacco stocks, and Philip Morris was one of the University's 20 largest investment holdings. Although Yale's tobacco holding, have not peaked higher than 0.5 per- cent of the total endowment, other schools including Harvard University -- which has the largest university endowment -- Johns Hopkins University and Tufts University have divested their tobacco holdings. In 1991, the ACIR released a prece- dent-setting decision on investor responsibility which stated that by holding a company's stocks, th* University gains the ability to influ- ence the company's corporate respon- sibility at shareholder meetings and in writing. "The use of 'voice' rather than 'exit' (is) the best way to seek to affect cor- porate behavior except under the most exceptional conditions," the decision . ..... .....