For years, public health officials have pointed to low smoking rates among black teen-agers as a hopeful sign that at least some young people were shunning cigarettes. Today, that optimism all but disappeared as a new study found that cigarette use among African-American high school students jumped 80 percent since 1991. The nationwide survey found that from 1991, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began the study, to 1997, smoking rates increased by a third among all high school students. Forty-three percent used cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco in the month before the survey; a surprising 22 percent had smoked cigars during that time. ...

President Clinton is stepping up pressure on cigarette makers to go along with a tough Senate bill to protect children and teen-agers from the ``cruel and deadly lure of smoking.'' For the third time this year, he took his case to the airwaves, using his weekly radio address today to argue once more that the tobacco industry should not be doing business with American kids. ...

How can a teen be convinced to stop smoking--or persuaded never to take up the habit at all? Those questions became even more crucial last week, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that tobacco use among teenagers increased by nearly one-third in the last six years. In 1991, 27.5% of teens used cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or cigars. In 1997, 36.4% did. Teens have their own issues, their own persuasion trigger points, their own pressures. What works for adult smokers--and researchers are still trying to figure out that problem too--may backfire for adolescents. ...

The three girls are 14 years old -- they look not a day older -- and have been smoking cigarettes since they were 10. They represent a bewildering puzzle to health authorities. It's against the rules to smoke on school grounds, so the girls crossed E. Locust St. before lighting up one day last week. One cigarette among the three freshmen, passed puff-to-puff as they shivered in the cold afternoon wind across the street from Milwaukee's Riverside University High School. Even though smoking is known to cause disease and early death, the growing number of teen smokers baffles experts seeking ways to stamp out cigarette and tobacco use among youth. ...

Just before he stormed beaches in the South Pacific during World War II, Robert Christian remembers his superiors calling out: "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!" Christian, who had never used cigarettes before joining the Navy, became a heavy smoker. Now 71, he has emphysema and the government pays for his health treatment. Emmanuel Carreras, 34, recalls being given the option of a smoking break or mopping the barracks at the end of a grueling day of Marine Corps basic training. ...

With a backdrop of American cigarette ads and posters from around the globe, San Francisco Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi called yesterday for tough new restrictions on U.S. tobacco marketing overseas. At a Chinatown press conference, the San Francisco Democrat, together with Richard Durbin, D-Ill., a key opponent of the tobacco industry in the U.S. Senate, tried to drum up support for a set of rules for international marketing to be included in any comprehensive federal tobacco legislation. ...

WASHINGTON -- Star Scientific Inc. is the first U.S. tobacco company to announce plans to stop identifying its cigarettes as "light" or "ultralight," which critics say mislead smokers into believing the cigarettes are safer. The Chester, Va., company sent letters to other cigarette manufacturers and lawmakers Wednesday that said it would drop the terms from its Vegas brand of cigarettes by the end of September. ...

In full-page ads in national newspapers last week, Big Tobacco warned that proposed antismoking legislation "would put us out of business." But if that conjures up images of Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man rushing into bankruptcy court, don't hold your breath. While the tobacco bill being considered in the Senate would indeed force companies to raise cigarette prices sharply, economists think it is unlikely that the increases would lead the market to crater. After all, cigarettes would still be a bargain in the U.S. compared with what they go for in most developed nations. ...

The goal of the American Legacy Foundation, which uses selling tactics similar to those used by consumer marketers, is to sell teens on not smoking cigarettes. The group's "Truth" ad campaign tries to show teens the dark side of smoking by exposing the marketing tactics of tobacco companies. The high-profile campaign included buying ads on the Super Bowl this year. The methodology: TV advertising created with the intent of having a credible message that taps into the "in" crowd and tries to make it cool to be anti-smoking. ...

In 1989, Mr. Palagonia, who entertains at children's parties dressed as characters like Barney and Elmo, decided to quit. He turned to Nicorette gum to curb the cravings for a cigarette. The smoke savored between sips of his morning coffee was replaced with a peppery square. On breaks at work, driving his car, after dinner - all the times he had luxuriated in smoke - he would pop another piece. "I got to the point that I was having problems with my teeth, and my jaw was killing me," Mr. Palagonia said. He eventually returned to smoking for a short time "to get off the gum." What ended up working for him was counseling, not a hit of nicotine. ...