"Smoking is a pediatric disease, it’s addictive and it kills," said Wigand, who was the subject of the Oscar-nominated film, "The Insider," released in fall 1999. "This is about the manipulation of children – 80 percent of today's tobacco users became addicted before the age of 18. We need to arm them with information on the tobacco industry to help them decide not to smoke."

Wigand called for the targeting of state tobacco settlement funds to smoking prevention programs aimed at children and teen-agers. He challenged the public, health care organizations and elected officials to come together and ensure that funds from the tobacco settlement are spent on both preventing youth smoking and cessation programs.

"Sometimes it takes ordinary people to make a difference," said Wigand, speaking before a forum held for representatives of insurance companies, government agencies and health care organizations.

In 1997, the national prevalence of current cigarette smoking among high school students was 32 percent higher than in 1991, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This suggests an alarmingly high proportion of high school students are current smokers who may become addicted to nicotine before reaching adulthood. Previous studies have shown most smokers try their first cigarette before age 18 and that those who start smoking at young ages are more likely to become heavy smokers and have a higher risk of death from smoking-related causes.

After leaving Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, where he had served as the vice president for research and development, Wigand cooperated with government agencies investigating the tobacco industry. His assistance played an instrumental role in the US Food and Drug Administration’s investigation of the addictive effect of nicotine in tobacco products.

Now on the lecture circuit, Wigand hopes to help keep children from smoking and to help smokers quit