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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1997)
T EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom NIGHT EDITOR: Steven Asbury EDITORIAL EDITORS: Ashley Bach & Brian Diamond editorials, letters, commentary and perspective -mat tern NEWSROOM: (541) 346-5511 DISPLAY ADVERTISING: (541)346-3712 BUSINESS OFFICE: (541)346-5512 B CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: (541)346-4343 {QUICK/ mm 3 --H WWW I we cW HO ONE BE 11 I© HEAD L S. ' YOU MUST TO STAND NEAR CIGARETTES. WE CARD | CIGARETTE BUYERSf/ tJHiJER27 r -:-- / Smoking policy just hot air ■ OUR OPINION: The FDAs new restrictions on cigarette sales won’t ban anything government’s latest attempts at curbing so cial problems with asinine solutions are es pecially ripe for criticism. This time around, the Food and Drug Ad ministration is implementing a new rule in an attempt to curb teenage smoking — with the full support of the Clinton administra tion. Since Feb. 28, retail clerks across the country are required to card any cigarette buyers who “appear” to be younger than 27. The new rule is part of a three-step feder al “crackdown” on underage smoking. In August, cigarette vending machines and smoking ads will be banned everywhere but bars and other adult-only locales. And next year, the FDA will ban tobacco company sponsorship of sporting events. But it this first step that is the most dras tic — and the most troublesome. President Clinton, of course, is excited about the new policy. He said last week that the government has “drawn a line where our children are concerned. From now on, in every store in America, our children will be told: No ID, no sale.” Yeah, right. It isn’t that federal intervention is inherently bad. It’s just that the ur cynicism over government in tervention continues. Despite the new rules, teenage smokers will still light up just as often. Local high school hangouts will be still be littered with cigarette butts. Young people will still find a way to get what they want, no matter what stands in their way. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t try to stop underage smoking or other teenage prob lems. But such an empty political statement will only hurt any real attempts to solve the problems plaguing today’s youth. First, teenage smokers usually don’t ob tain cigarettes from the usual channels. While a legal smoker can walk into any con venience or grocery store to support his or her habit, things are bit more difficult for the underaged. The method of sales the gov ernment is trying so hard to block isn’t even used on a regular basis. Also, most stores had policies similar to the federal edict already in effect. And many teenagers who did choose to buy their cigarettes straight from stores say they never had any problem, despite the supposed “zero-tolerance” policy. If underage smok ers could get cigarettes then, why would it be any difficult now? Clerks were willing to sell to minors be fore the federal policy, and will continue to do so. Judging the “appearance” of being 27 or older is highly subjective, and it only takes a lackadaisical or simply unethical employee to render such a policy useless. And such clerks are numerous. The FDA is proposing a 10-state series of stings and other operations in order to enforce the new policy. Unfortunately, such moves will do little to stop the problem in the face of such widespread employee misconduct. The FDA acknowledges that the new pol icy could be seen as “excessive” by some. But really, it doesn’t cut deep enough. The problem of teenagers smoking is part of a warped national image of the habit and what it represents, especially among young people. Smoking, while not as debonair as it once was, is still seen as "cool” by many. Movie stars like Johnny Depp and Drew Barrymore are infamous chain smokers, and have a large teenage following. The image of cool smoking is also perpet uated in advertising, movies and television. Despite the huge negative backlash, young people can still see something in smoking that is attractive. In Oregon, anti-smoking education pro grams from Measure 44 will help a bit, but the government must make smoking look bad in more than just classrooms to stop teenage use. At its heart, the new FDA policy is just a symbolic, political gesture with no poten tially tangible results. Teenage smoking cannot be solved by empty words and rules. Instead, it will take a long widespread movement to deglamorize the habit that has only just begun. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. WINNERS Ron Wyden The freshman senator is already making a name for himself by proposing a Medicare bill that would cut spending for the program. Mary Slaney On March 1, the 38-year-old Oregon native ran the fastest 1500 meters by a woman since 1990. Howard Stem The shock jock is on the cover of Entertain ment Weekly and Rolling Stone, and his autobiography, “Pri vate Parts,” comes to the big screen today. USERS Guido's The 13th Avenue bar lost its lease and closed indefinitely on Feb. 23. Harold Nieholson The OSU alum and former CIA agent pleaded guilty on March 3 to selling national secrets to the Russians. P.J. Carlesimo Newspaper reports of his firing as Port- | land Trailblazers 1 head coach were false, but he’s appar- ! entty still not on solid j ground. ■ In the March 5 article, “Greeks continue fight against rape," ASUO Greek Liaison Melissa Freund was quoted as saying, “There are no other rape prevention education re sources on campus.” To clarify, Freund’s intent was to say there are no other student-run rape prevention re sources on campus. ■ The EMU Board voted to implement a frac tion of the fourth proposal concerning EMU space during its meeting on March 5, not the entire proposal as reported in the March 6 edi tion. The Emerald regrets the errors. LETTERS Support farmworkers We must take issue with President Frohn mayer’s statement claiming the University must remain “neutral” in the GardenBurger boycott. Growers understand the power of our boycott of GardenBurgers and Flav-R Pac. In a recent newsletter, The Oregon Farm Bureau, a grower organization, called on its membership to buy Flav-R-Pac and Garden Burgers in order to oppose farmworkers’ ef forts to improve living conditions. The administration of the University, by continuing to sell Flav-R-Pac and Garden Burgers at University dining halls, is sup porting the agenda of groups like the Oregon Farm Bureau by continuing to sell Garden Burgers and Flav-R-Pac. This is hardly a “neutral" position. As long as NORPAC growers, who grow and process Flav-R-Pac fruits and vegeta bles, continue to profit from the mistreat ment of farmworkers, they have no incentive to negotiate with farmworkers. Over 50 religious, labor and environmen tal organizations understand the necessity of our boycott and are supporting us. Ecumeni cal Ministries of Oregon, representing 17 Oregon religious denominations, is calling on member congregations not to buy NOR PAC brands, including Flav-R-Pac brand frozen vegetables and fruits. The United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO (the union Cesar Chavez founded) is calling for support of our Flav-R-Pac and GardenBurger boycott, as is the National Farm Worker Ministry and Oregon Farm Worker Ministry. Oregon farmworkers are the heart of Ore gon’s booming agricultural industry. They pick the food we eat. Oregon’s farmworkers are now asking for your support. Please work to remove GardenBurgers and Flav-R-Pac for the University dining halls. Erik Nicholson PCUN Field Organization Coordinator University politics President David Frohnmayer’s statement that we “must be careful to be as politically neutral” as possible when speaking as a Uni versity (Emerald, Feb. 18), is odious and ridiculous. How does Mr. Frohnmayer propose that we promote this a-politicality? By accepting grants from the Departments of Energy and Defense? By profiting from the wage slavery of Indonesian children (in being paid for the advertisement of Nike’s Indonesian made products)? The University is a fundamentally politi cal entity. Through forming the thought processes of the nation’s (mis-) leaders, the University is inseparable for the political for mation of the state. The kind of talk which denies this capacity is cowardly and double talking, especially in view of the harm to the farmworkers that is directly engendering. In his establishment of the administra tion’s two-faced and false a-politicalness, Frohnmayer has long since lost his opportu nity to help lead the struggle for human rights and Oregon’s abused farmworkers. Though not unexpected, this is a disap pointment. Our leaders lost, we only have ourselves and our solidarity. As they pro mote the reprehensible treatment of Ore gon’s farmworkers through their cooperation with Flav-R-Pac. Aric Bright Comparative Literature
