Tobacco

Compton has taken a step toward becoming the first city in the state to ban alcohol and tobacco billboard ads. "Our children are inundated with provocative images that suggest that alcohol and tobacco consumption leads to happiness," Mayor Omar Bradley said. Several communities, including Long Beach and Inglewood, as well as Los Angeles County, have enacted or are considering milder ordinances banning alcohol and tobacco ads within 500 to 1,500 feet of schools and churches.

The City Council gave initial approval Wednesday to an ordinance that would require retailers to obtain permits to sell tobacco. Under City Atty. James K. Hahn's proposed tobacco enforcement program, retailers each year would obtain a free tobacco sales permit from the city. If retailers are caught selling tobacco to a minor, they could lose their permit for up to a year. The ordinance--which also bans the use of self-service tobacco displays--received initial approval with a 11-1 vote.

Outdoor Systems Inc. and an Eller Media Co. unit have settled lawsuits accusing them of failing to comply with a state law banning tobacco advertisements near schools. Each agreed to post free anti-smoking messages for 250 "billboard months," or the number of billboards involved multiplied by the number of months at each spot. The settlement ended a suit by San Francisco's Center for Environmental Health to enforce the state law that took effect Jan.

The Los Angeles County Health Department launched a billboard and poster campaign Wednesday against the sale of alcohol and cigarettes to minors. Posters reading "We care about the health of our community. We do not sell cigarettes or alcohol to minors," are being distributed to merchants. Billboards are being used as well.

In an agreement that could give strong ammunition to groups seeking to end the televising of sporting events sponsored by tobacco companies, the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday said the maker of a chewing tobacco agreed to stop displaying its name during tractor-pulling events it sponsors on cable television. The FTC said the agreement settled charges that Pinkerton Tobacco Co., maker of Red Man chewing tobacco, violated statutes prohibiting the advertising of tobacco on TV.

Cigarette packages would warn that smoking "can kill you" and tobacco advertising would be banned in movies, stadiums and other places where young people gather under a bill introduced in the House with Clinton Administration support. "We must use every means to protect our children," Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the surgeon general, said at a news conference Tuesday. The bill, introduced by Rep. Henry A.

Jury deliberation began here Thursday in the closely watched trial of a wrongful death suit filed against American Tobacco Co. by survivors of a lung cancer victim who smoked its Pall Mall brand. The case--widely considered the stiffest challenge yet to the tobacco industry's perfect record in defending product liability suits--went to the jury a year and a day after the death of Nathan H. Horton, a carpenter who smoked two packs of Pall Malls a day for over 30 years.

California's offering of tobacco bonds this week may require tax-free yields of 6% or more on the 30-year securities to attract enough buyers, even with a backup promise by the state to provide tax money to cover debt payments if necessary, investors said Monday. A group of investment banks led by Citigroup Inc. was testing the appetite of individual investors Monday by offering a 5.75% yield for their orders on a 30-year tobacco bond as part of the total planned $2.