Industry, Retailers Unveil Effort to Fight Youth Smoking : Tobacco: Voluntary program asks that clerks check IDs. Antismoking activists aren’t impressed.

Seeking to take a preemptive step in the controversy over youthful smoking, a group representing 200,000 retailers and the tobacco industry on Tuesday unveiled a voluntary program to combat tobacco sales to minors.

The program centers on having store clerks ask for picture identification before they will sell cigarettes or other tobacco products to anyone who appears younger than 25.

Antismoking activists, however, said they were not impressed with the program, saying it resembles previous efforts that have had little effect on youth smoking.

Representatives of the group announcing the plan said it was in the works for months and was not a response to a federal crackdown on tobacco marketing. The industry is fighting President Clinton’s move to limit cigarette advertising near schools and in magazines that have young readers. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration has proposed regulating tobacco as a drug.

Further pressure came Tuesday from Massachusetts, which filed a suit against the six leading tobacco companies seeking to recover more $1 billion in medical costs to treat smokers. Mississippi, Minnesota, West Virginia and Florida have filed similar suits.

The industry plan announced Tuesday calls upon retailers to monitor employees and otherwise discourage them from selling tobacco to minors. Stores will get large cards that say, “Under 18. We Card. No Tobacco.” Retailers participating in the program will conduct undercover checks to make sure no tobacco is sold to anyone under 18.

Asking for identification is not a standard practice among retailers now.

The program was announced by the Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing, whose members include cigarette and smokeless tobacco companies and leading convenience store and supermarket chains, including 7-Eleven, Ralphs, Vons and Lucky Stores. The tobacco industry is putting up an initial $5 million to finance the training program.

In unveiling the program, the coalition members acknowledged that there is room for improvement in the way the industry deals with tobacco sales to minors.

“If we had been completely effective, we wouldn’t be launching the united effort today,” said Lindsey Hutter, a coalition representative.

Hutter acknowledged there will be no penalty for retailers that don’t participate in the new program. But, she said, retailers will have an incentive to go along because “irresponsible behavior puts the entire category at risk” of federal regulation. Tobacco products account for 28% of convenience store sales.

Antismoking activists, in criticizing the program, noted that smoking among minors is rising despite previous efforts to curb it. A federal study released last week showed that 64.2% of high school seniors had tried smoking in the current year, up from 62% a year ago, an indication that minors can still obtain cigarettes easily.

“The tobacco industry has recognized that the issue of marketing and promotion to children has become a public issue and put together another meaningless program,” said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco. “If they really wanted to be effective, they’d get rid of the Marlboro cowboy and the Joe Camel cartoon.”

The coalition program incorporates some elements of an initiative announced in June by Philip Morris Cos., maker of Marlboro and other cigarettes. Promising to curb sales to minors, the company said it would monitor retailers’ compliance with minimum-age laws and withhold promotional support from violators. All states set a minimum age of 18 for tobacco sales, except Alabama, Alaska and Utah, whose minimum is 19.

Former U.S. Sen. Warren B. Rudman, a lawyer auditing compliance with the Philip Morris program, said Tuesday that it was too soon to report on it. It took several months to put in place, he said.

“It’ll take a year to determine if it’s working,” Rudman said. “I’d say you’re six months too soon.”