Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee

Floor Speech

* Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I rise again today to call attention to a significant conflict of interest within the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC)--a conflict that can and should cast doubt on its recent report to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the effect of menthol cigarettes on the public health.

* Last year, I submitted a statement for the Record referencing a Boston Globe article entitled ``FDA Lax on Conflicts of Interest,'' and I'm saddened to see that this problem continues to this day at the FDA. Since the FDA announced the nine voting members of TPSAC, questions have surfaced regarding financial and ethical conflicts of interest among several of the members. Rather than investigate the alleged conflicts and eliminate the shadow of doubt looming over the committee, the FDA has stood idly by as these conflicts have festered and threatened to undermine the very purpose TPSAC was formed to serve.

* Several members appointed to TPSAC have substantial financial interests at stake in the decisions rendered by the Committee. One member is an active consultant to drug companies that manufacture smoking cessation products. Another member stands to make money on a patented new smoking cessation drug. Both of these members have also testified against tobacco companies in several legal proceedings. The conflicts could not be clearer.

* Now, we find that TPSAC has, as many of the original skeptics predicted, released a recommendation that, short of an outright ban, nevertheless notes that ``removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit the public health.'' Rather than accept TPSAC's report as an unbiased call to action, we are faced with the same controversy that should have been corrected more than a year ago.

* The people deserve a government free from the appearance of impropriety. They have entrusted the members of this Chamber, as well as officials appointed within the Administration, to enforce the law even-handedly and to engage in policy decisions unencumbered by conflicts of interest, personal biases, or unethical predispositions.

* The only solution is for FDA to reject the recommendation of TPSAC and appoint new, unbiased members to the committee in order to carry out the purpose of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The FDA owes the people a fair and untarnished recommendation on this important issue and I call on the FDA to take appropriate measures to remedy TPSAC's inane report and conclusions.

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