RESOLUTION NO. 0 of 2005 DATED: October 25, 2005

WHEREAS, Smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Each day more than 4,000 youth try smoking for the first time, and another 2,000 youth become regular daily smokers; and

WHEREAS, The Surgeon General has concluded that tobacco advertising contributes to youth smoking rates; and

WHEREAS, An estimated 1/3 of adolescent experimentation with smoking can be directly attributed to tobacco advertising and promotional activities; and

WHEREAS, In 2003 tobacco companies spent $15.1 billion to market cigarettes in the United States; and

WHEREAS, These marketing expenditures tend to overwhelm and counteract efforts by school systems, government, and the medical community to decrease smoking rates, particularly when advertisements are displayed in educational and health care settings; and

WHEREAS, In the fall of 2003, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and four tobacco companies (Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds (Reynolds America), US Smokeless Tobacco Company and Santa Fe Tobacco Company) reached an agreement to eliminate tobacco advertising in the classroom program versions of Time, Newsweek and US News and World Report; and

WHEREAS, Reality Check surveyed 233 school libraries across New York and found that magazines carried in school libraries contained  tobacco ads thus encouraging youth to begin smoking; and

WHEREAS, School is a place where children and teenagers can learn and grow in a safe and secure environment; and

WHEREAS, Schools and school libraries should not be an outlet for the tobacco industry to target youth and find replacement smokers; and

WHEREAS, In June of 2005, NAAG, tobacco companies and magazine publishers reached and arrangement that eliminates all tobacco advertisement in Newsweek, Sport Illustrated, People and Time going to schools including school libraries.

RESOLVED, that Montgomery County Board of Supervisors hereby expresses its opposition to tobacco advertisements in magazines in the school setting including school libraries and enthusiastically supports the tobacco advertisement free arrangement reached between NAAG, the tobacco companies and the publishers of Newsweek, Time, Sports Illustrated and People to eliminate tobacco advertising from editions of these four magazines that are sent to school setting, including school libraries, and

FURTHER RESOLVED, because there are still many magazines in school libraries that contain tobacco advertisements, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors supports future efforts of Reality Check and the Attorney General to limit tobacco company access to youth by eliminating tobacco advertising in all editions of all magazines in schools, and

FURTHER RESOLVED, because Ebony, Essence, Jet, Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and Popular Science are carried in so many school libraries, these magazines should be included in the tobacco advertisement free arrangement immediately, and

FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution will be sent to the Attorney General, Time Inc. (the publisher of Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, Popular Science and Essence) and Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. (the publishers of Jet and Ebony).