Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, tomorrow night we expect 15 million Americans--including a lot of children--to tune in to watch the first game of the World Series. It is a big deal for a lot of people and a lot of families. We watch our heroes in the championship of that great American sport of baseball. There are many fans on both sides, of course, with Texas and St. Louis facing off. I know where Senator Blunt will be--rooting for his Cardinals--and I will be joining him in that effort. It will be a great contest and we look forward to it.

But I want to raise another issue related to baseball, which several of my colleagues joined in today, in a letter we sent to Major League Baseball and to the players association. Senators Lautenberg, Harkin, Blumenthal, and I today called on the Major League Baseball Players Association to ban the use of all tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco, on the field, in the dugout, and in the locker rooms at all Major League Baseball venues.

You see, unfortunately, among those 15 million fans are a lot of children who watch every move their heroes on the diamond make. And as they watch them, they undoubtedly note that little puff in the lip, the can in the pocket, and they think that is part of being a great baseball player. They decide they too want to be great baseball players, and so they imitate the conduct of those Major League Baseball players.

The 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey found the use of smokeless tobacco products has increased by 36 percent among high school boys since 2003, and the proportion of high school boys using smokeless tobacco is now an alarming 15 percent of all high school boys in America.

It is no wonder tobacco companies spend millions on advertisements tailored to attract young people to use tobacco products. The industry more than doubled its marketing for smokeless products between 2005 and 2008 to a record $547.9 million. The letter we sent points out that Major League Baseball players who use smokeless tobacco at games are providing celebrity endorsements for those tobacco products which encourage many young people to take up smokeless tobacco. It is a dangerous product. We know every year tobacco kills 443,000 Americans, most of whom started their tobacco addiction as teenagers. The Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute have concluded that smokeless tobacco causes cancers of the stomach, larynx, and esophagus; oral cancers--which can result in disfiguring surgery--and pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer. The use of smokeless tobacco is linked to cardiovascular disease, gum disease, tooth decay, and mouth lesions.

This is a battle I have been engaged in for a long time. I started battling the tobacco companies over smoking on airplanes over 25 years ago. I won that battle. I didn't know at the time, but that victory, fought with my colleague Senator Lautenberg, was a tipping point in America. From that point forward, people started asking questions. If it is not safe to smoke tobacco in an airplane, why is it safe on a train, a bus, in an office, in school, or in a hospital? One by one those opportunities to smoke in those places started to close up.

People today find it incredible--in fact, many young people still can't believe it--that we allowed people to smoke on an airplane, but many of us remember it well. America has changed. But when it comes to smokeless tobacco, I am calling on Major League Baseball and the players association to be part of a positive change on behalf of their young fans.

Let them set an example in their negotiations with Major League Baseball owners to eliminate tobacco from the baseball field, the dugout, and all aspects of the game of baseball. That would be a great message. It would not only show responsible conduct on the part of the baseball players, but it would show their fans how much they love them that they are willing to make an extra sacrifice to protect them from the dangers of smokeless tobacco.

It is not a new battle. I have been involved in this before, and I have called on Major League Baseball before. I can tell you that Bud Selig is strongly in favor of what I am asking for. I talked to him on the phone just a few weeks ago. But it really comes down to this negotiation--the contract between the players and the owners--and usually it becomes a bargaining chip at the table.

Let's not let the health and safety of young baseball fans across America be a bargaining chip between the Major League players and the owners. Let's win one for the kids across America. I hope the Major League Baseball players will show the leadership, which I know they can show, and eliminate smokeless tobacco from the game of baseball and really give our kids across America--the greatest baseball fans in the world--the help they need to avoid this deadly habit.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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