Family Smoking Prevention And Tobacco Control Act

Floor Speech

Family Smoking Prevention And Tobacco Control Act

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, after the close of morning business, we will return to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This is a piece of legislation which has been in the making for two decades or more which would finally say that tobacco is going to be regulated, as it should have been a long time ago.

For the longest time, the tobacco lobbyists were the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill, and they managed to create an exemption in virtually every law so that no Federal agency could take a look at them and regulate them and basically know what we know about every product and service offered in America. They said: Well, the Food and Drug Administration shouldn't have any authority. The tobacco lobby argued: We are not really food and we are not really a drug. So they managed to wiggle their way through the Federal statute book and at the end of the day have virtually no regulation or oversight. Unfortunately, while they have been doing that, 400,000 Americans have been dying every year of tobacco-related disease. It is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in America today. It is a product which is sold legally and a product which kills with lethality. That is a fact.

We know from experience that the tobacco industry has a tough assignment. What kind of business can survive that loses 400,000 of its customers every year, customers who die because of addiction to tobacco-related products? They needed a marketing campaign. The problem was, if you tried to market tobacco products to adults, most of them had the good sense to say: That is not a smart thing to do; I am going to stay away from tobacco. So they had to change their marketing strategy. If you couldn't market to adults, you know the kids may be vulnerable, and that is where they went, with a vengeance, with the idea of addicting children to tobacco early in life, because, of course, tobacco products, with nicotine, are addictive. To some, it is a very strong addiction. They fight for a lifetime, with patches and a doctor's care and hypnosis and anything they can think of. Some people can shake it and move away from it; others spend a lifetime addicted. So the tobacco companies went after the kids. They knew if they could get their products in the hands of children, and children would try them, they would become the next generation of smokers and ultimately a future generation of victims of tobacco. So this deadly cycle began by the tobacco companies, and the Federal Government took a hands-off attitude.

Back in the 1960s, we created a little warning label on tobacco cigarettes. You see it on billboards. It is so small, people don't notice it. It has become so commonplace, nobody even registers with the message it delivers.

For the longest time, we have argued that tobacco should be regulated, that the products that are sold in America should have an agency with oversight keeping an eye on them. The tobacco companies fought it off year after year.

Finally, with this new President, with this new Congress, we have reached the moment where we have a chance to pass this important legislation. This is a bill that will protect children and will protect America, and it will reduce tobacco use. The House passed their version last month with a wide majority, and now it is time for the Senate to act. Every day that we don't act, 3,500 American kids--children--will light up for the first time. That is enough to fill 70 schoolbuses of kids who will try cigarettes every single day for the first time. A thousand of those 3,500 will then become regular smokers. The addiction will begin.

Tobacco companies spend nearly $40 million every day to lure this new generation of customers with blatant deceptive advertising--promotions of candy-flavored cigarettes and advertising that is aimed directly at kids--all the while they are loading their products not just with tobacco leaf but with chemicals. They put in extra nicotine, incidentally. If there isn't enough nicotine naturally occurring in tobacco, they load it up so that your addiction becomes stronger, your craving grows, and your body demands more and more tobacco. It is time we put a stop to this marketing and give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate this industry.

There are 43 million Americans who smoke today. People often say to me: Well, why don't we just ban this product? If I thought that would end smoking in America, I might consider it. But we know better. With 43 million Americans currently addicted, they are not going to quit cold turkey tomorrow. A black market would emerge, and then the next thing you know the underground economy would be sustaining tobacco. That would not be the result we are looking for.

In my home State of Illinois, about one out of five kids smokes. That means that every year 65,000 kids in Illinois try a cigarette for the first time, and almost 20,000 become regular daily smokers. These kids consume 34 million packs of cigarettes a year. There are 8.6 million people in the United States who currently suffer from tobacco-related disease. It is responsible for 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, one-third of all cancer deaths, and one in five deaths from cardiovascular disease. Approximately half of all continuing smokers will die prematurely as a result of the disease. Sadly, in Illinois, 317,000 kids alive today will eventually die from the smoking addiction which they started as kids.

Here is what the bill does. We put teeth in the law to restrict the marketing and sale of tobacco products to kids. We require tobacco companies to disclose the ingredients on their products. We require the Food and Drug Administration to evaluate any health claims for scientific accuracy and public health impact. We give the FDA the power to require companies to make changes to tobacco products to protect public health. And we require larger, stronger warning health notices on tobacco products. These are commonsense reforms that will start to reduce the terrible toll tobacco has taken on families all across this Nation. The FDA is the right agency to do this. It is the only agency that can bring together science, regulatory expertise, and the public health mission to do the job. Through a user fee on tobacco companies, the bill gives the agency the money it needs to conduct its new responsibilities.

This is a strong public health bill, and it is a bipartisan bill. After more than 10 years of effort, we have never been so close to giving the FDA the authority it needs to regulate tobacco. I urge my colleagues to resist any amendments that will weaken this bill or add provisions that might stop it from becoming a law. FDA regulation of tobacco products is long overdue.

I can recall arriving on Capitol Hill as a new Congressman years and years ago. In the first orientation meeting we had as new Democratic Congressmen, one of the older Members of the House came in, closed the door, and said: I want to tell you something. When tobacco issues come up, we vote with the tobacco companies. That is for your friends in tobacco-producing States. You give them a helping hand, and someday they may give you a helping hand. That is the way it works.

Well, that was one of the first things we were told about being a Member of Congress; tobacco was that important on the political agenda. Certainly for some Members from tobacco-producing States, it may have been the most important thing that brought them to Capitol Hill. However, over the years, some of us wandered off of this agenda.

I offered an amendment to ban smoking on airplanes and had the opposition of all of the leaders in the House of Representatives, Democrat and Republican. But it turned out that so many Members of the House flew in airplanes and couldn't stand this fiction of smoking section and nonsmoking section that they supported my amendment. So over 20 years ago we banned smoking on airplanes.

FRANK LAUTENBERG was my champion over here in the Senate and together we started a Federal policy that I might say kind of tipped one domino over and people started saying if secondhand smoke is dangerous on airplanes it is dangerous in other places.

That movement has grown in intensity. We have seen the kind of leadership at local and State levels that has continued to make it a potent force. But today is our chance. As I mentioned earlier, I am sure Senator Dodd will join me saying we wish one of our colleagues were with us here today, and that is TED KENNEDY, who is home recuperating. TED KENNEDY was our champion and inspiration for years on this issue. He hung in there and fought for this when a lot of people gave up. TED never gave up. When it came to the issues in his heart and soul, he fought as long as he possibly could.

We continue that fight today and he handed the banner to Senator Dodd, who has done an extraordinarily good job on this bill. He has been called into action in the Senate repeatedly. Just a few weeks ago we passed the Credit Card Reform Act after more than 20 years of trying. We finally got it done. It was a dramatic change in the law to protect consumers and families across America.

Today, with the passage of this--at least the movement of this bill forward toward passage this week--we are going to be able to protect millions of children and Americans from deadly tobacco-related disease.

I thank Senator Dodd for his leadership. I commend this bill to our colleagues. This is our moment in history. Let's not miss it. Let's seize this opportunity to create protection for a lot of young people who will otherwise find you are compromised by this deadly tobacco product.

I yield the floor.

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