by Randolph D. Smoak Jr.

About the author: Randolph D. Smoak Jr. is a trustee for the American Medical Association, the primary professional association of physicians in the United States.

Editor’s note: The following text is excerpted from a speech delivered to the Tobacco Liability Project on November 10, 1995.

Ihave had many proud moments as a physician. However, one of my proudest moments as a public health advocate was August 10, 1995, when the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] and President Bill Clinton announced their regulations to stop wholesale addiction of our children. Children are fodder to the tobacco industry. Each year, they must lure more than 400,000 children to begin smoking to replace those who die annually of heart, lung and cancerous ailments. Sadly, they are succeeding. Between 1991 and 1995, the number of eighth graders...