Family Smoking Prevention And Tobacco Control Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I am a strong supporter and cosponsor of H.R. 1108, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, and I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for it today. I also want to commend and thank Congressman Waxman for introducing this important legislation that will significantly improve public health by strengthening the regulation of tobacco products.
There are over 44 million smokers in the United States and over 435,000 tobacco-related deaths each year. In Illinois alone, 24.3 percent of adults and 29.2 percent of youths smoke tobacco. Each year in Illinois, more than 16,000 people die from smoking-related illnesses, including 2,900 adults and children who die of second-hand smoke. In addition, $3.2 billion is spent in direct medical expenditures related to smoking in Illinois.
The tobacco industry spends $17 million a day to promote their products. Their targets are often teens, women and minorities. The average age when an individual becomes a daily smoker is 14.5 years. Every day, more than 4000 kids try their first cigarette and about half become addicted to tobacco. Nicotine and other tobacco products have become a pediatric disease. H.R. 1108 would help prevent these potentially deadly products from getting into the hands of children and youth.
This legislation would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to regulate the manufacture, distribution and sale of tobacco products, authorities needed to safeguard the public health and our children. In addition, H.R. 1108 would lessen the cost of smoking-related medical illnesses and prevent adolescents and teens from smoking at a young age. The fact that the tobacco industry is now advertising a new generation of products with unproven claims that they are less harmful makes the need for FDA oversight even more urgent.
I am very proud that the State of Illinois has already taken measures to curb the effects of smoking on the public. I also appreciate the efforts that the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians have taken to educate the public and Congress about the dangers of smoking. Already, the Academy's ``Tar Wars'' campaign has had clear and successful results. I see it in the drawing of Alexandra Slane, an elementary school grader from Peoria, who won the Illinois Tar Wars annual poster contest. Her drawing of a human-shaped light bulb is captioned with a warning to America, ``Be Bright Don't Light!'' Let us all be bright--let us pass H.R. 1108 and act to improve the Nation's health.
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