Edited by Richard S. Dunham

A TALK WITH CLINTON'S POINT MAN ON TOBACCO

President Clinton recently named White House Domestic Policy Counsel director Bruce N. Reed and Health & Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to head the Administration's review of the recent tobacco settlement. On June 24, Reed discussed their mission with Business Week White House Correspondent Richard S. Dunham. Here are excerpts of their conversation:

Q: What do you hope to accomplish during your review of the tobacco deal?

A: Our review needs to answer two basic questions: Can we accomplish our public-health goals better with some kind of settlement or without one? And second, is this the right settlement?

Q: Many public-health advocates have been critical of the settlement. Do you have any particular concerns about it?

A: We are going to look closely at every aspect [of the deal]. The key questions include the FDA's ability to do its job, the overall financial terms of the settlement and what the money goes for, and a handful of legal and practical issues about how an agreement like this would would work if it would go forward. We also will look at the performance measures in the package to make sure [the number of] children smoking is actually reduced.

Q: You may be able to assess the monetary benefits of a settlement. But how do you assess the situation if the deal breaks down and you have ongoing litigation over FDA jurisdiction, a series of state trials, and possible congressional action?

A: It's more difficult to assess the world without a settlement.

Q: Which way is the Administration leaning: Toward approving a settlement with modifications or opposing it entirely?

A: It's too early to tell.

Q: Do you think the Administration will end up on the same side as the majority of public-health advocates and congressional activists?

A: It's way to early to predict. We all go into this with the same objective. We're all approaching it from the same side.

Q: And what's that objective?

A: We see the debate over this settlement as an enormous opportunity to advance the public health, one way or another. It gives us a chance to build on the progress we made in the first four years [of the Clinton Presidency] with regard to [reducing] children's smoking. We're determined to make sure that something good comes out of this whole effort.

Q: How will you proceed during your monthlong review process?

A: We want to conduct a thorough review. We will reach out to all the experts. We've already had conversations with many of the leaders of the public-health community, [Former FDA Director] Dr. [David] Kessler, [Former Surgeon General] Dr. [C. Everett] Koop, [child-smoking advocate] Matt Myers, and others. We've been in contact with various organizations across the public-health community and key members of Congress. We have a team within the Administration of experts who will be looking at all the various elements of the settlement. We will widen that net, too, to include half a dozen [federal] agencies and several White House offices. We want to cast as broad a net as possible.

Q: Does that net include tobacco industry officials or lobbyists such as former Texas Governor Ann Richards?

A: I have not had any conversations with tobacco representatives, apart from briefings with negotiators along the way. The industry views are reflected in the settlement. We've turned it over to the rest of the world to look it over.