[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 51 (Friday, April 25, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3703-S3704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TOBACCO NEGOTIATIONS

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, in the short weeks since negotiations to 
settle litigation against the tobacco industry began on April 3, 28,000 
more Americans have died from smoke-related illnesses and 69,000 
children in the United States began smoking. One in three of these 
children will eventually die prematurely because of their tobacco 
addiction. That is the magnitude of the harm that cigarettes have 
caused in just 22 days.
  The well-documented history of deceit and misrepresentation by the 
tobacco companies should make any Member of Congress extremely 
skeptical about the industry's good faith in these negotiations. No 
industry in America has a worse reputation than tobacco, and no 
industry in America has done more to earn such a highly negative image.
  The tobacco industry has knowingly peddled an extraordinarily 
addictive drug to the American public for decades. It has targeted 
children with massive advertising and marketing schemes designed to 
hook them on smoking. It has concealed the harmful ingredients in their 
products. And it has repeatedly lied about its activities to Congress 
and the Nation.
  Just last week, we learned from one of the Liggett documents that the 
major tobacco companies knew as early as 1958--1958--that smoking 
caused lung cancer. Given this record of deceit and manipulation, our 
current skepticism of the industry is clearly warranted.
  Research by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia 
University has revealed that the harm the cigarette companies have done 
has extended even beyond the extraordinary death and destruction their 
product creates directly. Cigarettes are a very significant gateway 
drug leading to cocaine and heroin addiction. Children who smoke are 12 
times more likely to use heroin. Children who smoke are 19 times more 
likely to use cocaine. Even worse, the younger the children are when 
they begin smoking, the more likely they are to move on to illegal 
drugs.
  It is not because their executives are suddenly experiencing pangs of 
conscience over their past behavior that the tobacco companies have 
initiated these settlement negotiations. The real reason is obvious. 
Big Tobacco desperately needs a strategy to avoid huge judgments for 
smoking victims in pending court cases, to evade massive public 
disclosure in those cases of the industry's scandalous behavior, and to 
prevent effective new Government regulation of the industry.
  The industry sees that the tide is finally turning against tobacco. 
The combined efforts of the Food and Drug Administration, State 
attorneys general, public interest litigators, and public health 
advocates have had a dramatic impact. The Liggett settlement has 
already exposed some of the industry's darkest secrets to public 
scrutiny. Each new public survey shows an overwhelming majority of 
Americans view the industry as evil.
  At long last, courts are about to hold tobacco companies financially 
accountable for decades of injury to individual smokers and the public 
treasury. We have crossed the Rubicon in the war against tobacco. And 
the industry knows it. That is why Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco have 
come to the table seeking a cease-fire. They want to purchase peace at 
the lowest possible price, with the smallest possible change in their 
malignant behavior.
  That does not mean we should be unwilling to talk. It does mean we 
should not loosen our grip on the regulatory and litigation steps which 
have brought the tobacco industry to the negotiation table. We should 
hold firm to

[[Page S3704]]

our demands both for fundamental change in the way the tobacco industry 
operates and for financial compensation from the industry in a 
magnitude commensurate with the harm its misconduct has caused.
  The tobacco industry strategy is now to entice its adversaries into 
negotiations by making a series of quick concessions--especially their 
acquiescence in public health regulation. What is striking about their 
concessions is that most of them are within the power of the Federal 
Government to impose tomorrow. We do not need industry consent to 
implement most of these public health protections. All Congress needs 
is the will to act. What the industry is offering to do is merely call 
off its lobbyists.
  According to those participating in the negotiations, the tobacco 
industry will agree to abide by the current FDA rule, and will agree in 
principle to significant further restrictions on their marketing 
practices. As part of a settlement, the industry has said it is ready 
to accept the following things:
  First, much stronger warnings about the addictiveness and health 
dangers of smoking on each pack of cigarettes;
  Second, full disclosure of cigarette ingredients;
  Third, elimination of vending machines sales;
  Fourth, additional restrictions on the advertising it can engage in; 
and
  Fifth, expanded FDA jurisdiction over tobacco.
  In essence, after years of opposition, the industry has conceded that 
all of these restrictions are reasonable. These concessions will stand 
on the public record regardless of the outcome of the talks. The 
industry cannot credibly return to its former position. It is within 
Congress' power to enact each of these reforms now--and we should do 
so. Congress does not need the tobacco industry's consent before we 
legislate to protect the public health.
  What the tobacco industry has not agreed to--and what is essential to 
the public health--is full authority for the FDA to regulate nicotine 
as an addictive drug. Such authority would give the FDA the power to 
order cigarette manufacturers to reduce the level of nicotine in their 
products.
  The evidence strongly suggests that tobacco companies have been 
deliberately manipulating and strengthening the level of nicotine to 
make cigarettes more addictive. It is time to reverse the process and 
reduce nicotine levels. This too is within Congress' power to enact 
today.
  For a generation, the tobacco industry has been remarkably successful 
in evading such restrictions. No current settlement can anticipate 
every marketing trick the industry will use in the future.
  Therefore, Congress should accept no restriction on the authority of 
the FDA or State government agencies to impose additional restrictions 
on the industry as warranted by future events.
  If the tobacco industry is sincere in its promise not to target 
children, it should agree to a results test. Substantial financial 
penalties should be imposed on the industry each year that tobacco use 
by minors does not decline by a specific percentage. Industry dollars 
should be used to fund a national education campaign to publicize the 
addictiveness of tobacco and the health risks of smoking.
  The financial settlement reportedly offered by the tobacco industry--
$300 billion over 25 years--sounds enormous at first blush. People hear 
the $300 billion and don't register the 25 years. They are offering $12 
billion a year. That number pales in comparison to the harm the 
industry causes. According to the Congressional Office of Technology 
Assessment, cigarettes cost the United States $68 billion a year in 
health care costs and lost productivity.
  Some 419,000 Americans die each year due to smoking-related 
illnesses. Smokers lose an average of 15 years of their life. At 
current smoking rates, 10.5 million people will die prematurely due to 
tobacco during those years. Collectively, they will have lost 157 
million years of life. Suddenly the industry's settlement offer does 
not sound large anymore.
  If a financial settlement to compensate for past injuries is ever 
agreed to, payment should be made from the tobacco companies' profits, 
including the profits from their nontobacco subsidiaries. That would be 
the source of payment for any court judgment. It should similarly be 
the source of payment for any settlement. Compensation should come from 
the pockets of the wrongdoers.
  Any increase in the tax on tobacco products--and I believe there 
should be a substantial one--should be used to fund needed initiatives 
to improve the Nation's health. No settlement proposal should seek to 
limit or cap, either directly or indirectly, Congress' authority to 
enact future tobacco tax increases. The cost of treating smoking-
related diseases and the cost of lost productivity caused by those 
illnesses amount to $2.59 for each pack of cigarettes sold in the 
United States. We have a long way to go to recover those costs.
  Such a tobacco tax increase should be large enough to discourage 
children from starting smoking. Higher tobacco taxes are one of the 
most effective weapons in reducing smoking amongst young people.
  For generations, tobacco companies have targeted teenagers for a 
lifetime of addiction. It is especially appropriate therefore that 
revenue from a tobacco tax increase should be used to provide 
affordable health insurance coverage for the Nation's 10 million 
uninsured children. Senator Hatch and I have proposed a plan to do 
that, and we intend to do all we can to see that this Congress enacts 
it.
  We also hear that the industry wants blanket immunity from suit for 
its decades of willful wrongdoing as the price of a settlement. If that 
is the price, there will be no settlement. It would be unconscionable 
to deny people poisoned by tobacco their day in court. Each year, 
millions of Americans learn that they have diseases caused by smoking. 
In too many cases, it is beyond our power to restore their health. We 
must never permit the tobacco industry to extinguish their right to 
justice as well.
  The industry's current settlement proposals are utterly inadequate. 
Whether measured by the scope of regulation to protect the public 
health or the amount of financial compensation for past wrongs, tobacco 
company proposals fall far short of a reasonable offer. I am confident 
that those representing the public interest will never accept such a 
lopsided settlement. Certainly, no one should think for even a moment 
that Congress will put its stamp of approval on such an outrageously 
inadequate plan.

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