P.M. BRIEFING : Koop Assails Export of Cigarettes
WASHINGTON — Surgeon General C. Everett Koop today denounced efforts to export U.S. cigarettes as “the height of hypocrisy.”
Koop, who is retiring Oct. 1, testified at a hearing of the U.S. trade representative against a request by the cigarette industry for government intervention to force Thailand to allow sales and advertising of American cigarettes.
“When we are persuading foreign governments to stop the flow of cocaine, it is the height of hypocrisy to export tobacco,” said Koop, who has conducted a vigorous anti-smoking campaign throughout his tenure.
The U.S. Cigarette Export Assn. has requested the intervention and the trade representative is to decide the issue by next May.
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