HHS Readying Tobacco Documents for Website Debut

WASHINGTON--More of those long-secret tobacco industry documents that have come to light as the result of recent lawsuits will be coming to a website near you. President Clinton has ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take the steps necessary for making the documents more accessible to the public.

He also ordered the Justice Department to file a brief supporting the State of Minnesota’s efforts to win the public release of a comprehensive index to tobacco company documents created by the industry for use during the state’s lawsuit against Big Tobacco.

HHS will prepare a plan for reviewing the documents and making them available in an index or digest form that people can search easily and that will be widely disseminated.