by Steven V. Roberts

About the author: Steven V. Roberts is a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report.

Teenagers are the prime target in the tobacco wars. About 1 million start smoking each year—3,000 a day—even though most are too young to buy cigarettes legally. For the tobacco industry, these youngsters are an essential source of new customers. And while cigarette makers deny it, advertising and promotion clearly help attract the attention of teens. The rate of youthful smoking dropped steadily from 1976 until 1984, then leveled off—just as cigarette companies boosted promotional budgets.

The antismoking forces know that an outright ban on cigarettes is impractical and that most of the 46 million Americans who already smoke will not break the habit. So their focus, too, is on teenagers: to keep them from...