Athletes Urged to Avoid Tobacco ‘Blood Money’

Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan today called on athletic associations to reject sponsorships by tobacco companies.

“This blood money should not be used to foster a misleading impression that smoking is compatible with good health,” Sullivan said at a news conference called to protest sponsorship of women’s tennis events by Virginia Slims cigarettes.

He said the link between sports and cigarettes may tempt young people to smoke.

“When the tobacco industry sponsors an event in order to push their deadly product, they are trading on the health, the prestige and the image of the athlete to barter a product that will kill the user,” Sullivan said at the news conference held by a coalition of health groups.

Virginia Slims has sponsored women’s tennis events for two decades. It is sponsoring 14 events on the women’s professional tour this year, including a tournament at George Washington University in Washington this week.

Steve Weiss, a spokesman for Philip Morris Cos. Inc., manufacturer of Virginia Slims, rejected the criticism and said, “We intend to be a sponsor of women’s tennis for a long time into the future.”