WASHINGTON, D.C. -- August 1, 2007 -- "On behalf of the millions of families who have experienced the devastating effects of tobacco addiction, I commend Chairman Senator Kennedy (D-MA) and the members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee for approving the bill by a 13-8 vote, moving legislation forward to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) broad authority to regulate tobacco products. Passage by the HELP Committee is a significant step forward, building momentum for Congressional enactment of this critical public health initiative by the end of the year.
"The Family Smoking Prevention Tobacco Control Act (S. 625/H.R. 1108) is supported by the American public, by over 400 national, state and local public health, public interest and faith-based organizations and by a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate.
"Enactment of the legislation would ultimately rein in the most egregious manufacturing and marketing practices of the tobacco industry. Regulation of tobacco products would mean fewer children would ever start using tobacco and more smokers would quit.
"Tobacco companies and their products, which kill more than 440,000 Americans every year, have gone unregulated for far too long at the great expense of public health. The legislation would at long last grant the FDA, which regulates all other ingestible consumer goods, the power to regulate all aspects of tobacco products. The FDA is the only agency with the scientific expertise and regulatory experience necessary to effectively regulate tobacco products and monitor the erroneous claims made by the tobacco companies.
"One need only look at the tobacco industry’s egregious marketing practices to know why regulation is necessary. The industry spends $40 million every day marketing to children, 4,000 of whom try their first cigarette each day. Companies aggressively market their deadly products to children in the form of candy-flavored cigarettes such as Camel’s Twista Lime or Kool’s Midnight Berry. Camel No. 9 cigarettes are marketed as ‘light and luscious’ with a name and packaging reminiscent of a glamorous and well-known French perfume clearly targeted to young women.
"We hope House and Senate lawmakers will similarly champion another critical tobacco control measure to increase the federal tobacco tax as part of the bill to fund the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Regulating the tobacco industry and increasing the federal tobacco tax are two necessary components to combat the scourge of tobacco in our country."
ACS CAN is the nonprofit, nonpartisan sister advocacy organization of the American Cancer Society, dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage lawmakers, candidates and government officials to support laws and policies that will make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.