[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 15 (Monday, February 5, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REGULATION OF TOBACCO BY FDA

                                 ______


                             HON. ED BRYANT

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 1, 1996

  Mr. BRYANT of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I know you were as relieved as 
I was, to hear the President reveal that the ``era of big Government is 
over.'' This likely will be welcome news to the millions of Americans 
who are fed up with a Federal Government which has spent itself into a 
$5 trillion debt and which has been injecting itself into nearly every 
aspect of the lives of working men and women in the process.
  Unfortunately, it appears that the Commissioner of the Food and Drug 
Administration was not watching the President's address last week 
because the FDA is still pressing forward with its plans to regulate 
tobacco.
  In the President's new era of smaller Government, the FDA has 
proposed, in 140 pages in the Federal Register, to wrest from Congress, 
from the Federal agencies and from the States, the authority to 
regulate the sale, distribution, advertising, and promotion of tobacco. 
The FDA has made this proposal despite the fact that Congress has 
traditionally left to the States most elements of tobacco regulation--
including age of purchase.
  The President also outlined in his State of the Union Address, a 
number of challenges he sees facing our Nation--including preventing 
underage tobacco use. However, I would remind the President that 
Congress has already risen to this challenge, having enacted in 1992, 
the ADAMHA Reorganization Act, requiring the States, as a condition for 
receiving certain Federal grants, to enact and enforce laws preventing 
the sale or distribution of tobacco products to minors.
  Although this legislation became law before Mr. Clinton took office, 
it was only last week that his Department of Health and Human Services 
issued its final rule for implementation. Indeed, it took the 
Department almost 2\1/2\ years from the time it issued its proposed 
rule to the time it promulgated its final rule.
  This delay helps underscore the inherent limitations of big 
Government and serves as proof that Congress had the right idea when it 
granted to the States, and not to the Federal Government, 
responsibility for reducing underage tobacco use.
  While the Federal Government has a legitimate interest in preventing 
the purchase of tobacco products by minors, the matter is properly the 
domain of State governments, not a Federal agency acting without 
congressional authorization or direction. The individual States are 
much better equipped to deal with the complex factors involved with 
underage use, than is the FDA with its ``one size fits all'' approach 
and its unwieldy bureaucracy.
  Mr. Speaker, since all 50 States already have laws prohibiting the 
sale or distribution of tobacco products to persons under age 18, I 
would think that the FDA's time and resources could be better spent on 
approving new medicines and medical devices and allow the States to 
combat underage tobacco use.

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