[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 21 (Thursday, March 5, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S1479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HEALTHY KIDS ACT

 Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, recently I cosponsored legislation 
authored by my colleague from North Dakota, Senator Conrad, which 
addresses a serious threat to public health: youth smoking. Every day 
3,000 kids take up smoking, and tragically, 1,000 of them will 
eventually die of tobacco-related illnesses. Since research has shown 
that 90 percent of all smokers begin smoking in their teens or younger, 
we must do more to prevent our children from becoming hooked on 
tobacco.
  The Healthy Kids Act, S. 1638, takes the tobacco settlement 
negotiated by several states' attorneys general last summer and 
strengthens it. The bill provides the Food and Drug Administration with 
full authority to regulate tobacco. This would protect FDA's ability 
to, among other things, require health warnings on tobacco products, 
prohibit advertising aimed at children and insure the safety of tobacco 
ingredients. The bill imposes penalties on tobacco companies if they 
fail to reduce youth smoking rates by 67 percent over the next 10 years 
and funds research, prevention and smoking cessation programs. The bill 
also requires tobacco companies to make public their documents related 
to the health effects of smoking, manipulation of nicotine levels in 
tobacco and their efforts to market tobacco products to minors.
  Finally, the legislation would impose a health fee on tobacco 
products of 50 cents per pack in 1999, increasing to $1.50 per pack in 
2001. While I have some concern about the level of this new fee, it has 
two important goals. The first, and most important, is to discourage 
children from taking up smoking. Most experts agree that a substantial 
increase in the price of cigarettes is the most effective way to reduce 
teen smoking. Secondly, this new fee rightly asks smokers to pay for 
some of the costs to states and the federal government of treating 
smoking-related health problems.
  I don't agree with every provision in S. 1638, but I cosponsored it 
because I believe it is important that Congress pass comprehensive 
legislation to combat youth smoking this year. Tobacco should continue 
to be a legal product for adults, but we need to do more to keep it out 
of the hands of children and we must hold the tobacco industry 
accountable for their efforts to hook our kids.

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