By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) -- President Bill Clinton and tobacco foes on Wednesday said Philip Morris Cos. Inc. had waited too long to finally acknowledge that medical evidence points to smoking as a cause of lung cancer and other lethal diseases.
On a new Internet site launched Wednesday, the world's largest cigarette maker for the first time said there is an "overwhelming medical and scientific consensus that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other serious diseases in smokers."
Philip Morris, whose Marlboro and other brands account for 53% of all US cigarette sales, also said that smoking "is addictive as that term is most commonly used today."
Until now, those points -- that smoking is unhealthful and addictive -- have been hotly contested by Philip Morris, which along with other cigarette makers has been the target of fierce litigation on behalf of sick and deceased smokers.
The New York-based company said it had unveiled the website -- www.philipmorris.com -- as part of a campaign "to communicate more openly with the public" and polish its public image. Published reports said the campaign would cost $100 million a year and would include television spots aimed at highlighting the company's charitable activities.
Philip Morris said the campaign would underscore its involvement in four philanthropic areas: hunger, disaster relief, curbing youth access to tobacco, and domestic violence.
Clinton grudgingly welcomed Philip Morris' acknowledgment that evidence shows smoking causes lung cancer, and said it was long overdue.
"This formal acknowledgment comes far too late, but still we must all welcome it," Clinton said during an environmental speech in Virginia.
"It certainly makes clear, as I have said for years, that the tobacco companies should answer for their actions in court, they should stop marketing their products to children, certainly they should do much more to reduce youth smoking," he added. "So this is a good day for the cause of public health and our children in America."
Philip Morris, which had global tobacco sales of $11.6 billion in the second quarter of this year, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Justice Department filed a massive lawsuit on September 22 against tobacco companies, including Philip Morris, seeking to recover much of the $20 billion spent by the federal government every year on smoking-related illnesses.
The Clinton Administration has been working to get the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate cigarettes as a drug delivery system. It also has proposed raising the tobacco tax by 55 cents a pack to generate revenue to treat smoking illnesses.
Richard Daynard, an anti-tobacco law professor at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, accused Philip Morris of cloaking itself in good causes while continuing to sell and aggressively market deadly products.
Daynard, who heads the Tobacco Products Liability Project, which encourages smokers to sue tobacco companies, said Philip Morris was itself responsible for over half of an estimated 400,000 deaths from tobacco in the United States each year.
"It's nice that while Philip Morris is killing about 200,000 people every year that they're also doing something for the homeless. In essence, the company is trying to cover up for its unspeakable behavior," Daynard told Reuters.
Thomas Bantle, legislative counsel for the consumer group Public Citizen Congress Watch in Washington, predicted Philip Morris would fail to "remold public opinion" in its favor.
"Recent jury verdicts have indicated the public views tobacco companies as very bad actors, so I presume this is an attempt to change the public's perception. But I think whatever they say will be discounted by the public as too little too late," Bantle added.
Brown & Williamson, the No. 3 US cigarette seller, earlier this year reported similar information linking smoking to various diseases on its own website -- www.brownandwilliamson.com.
"We think the Philip Morris website is a step in the right direction," Mark Smith, a B&W spokesman, told Reuters. "We think it's good when tobacco companies address issues that are of significance to public health."
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the nation's No. 2 tobacco company, was not immediately available to comment.
Shares of Philip Morris were off 1-3/16 at 32-13/16 on the New York Stock Exchange, where they were among the most actively traded issues.
