[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1720-S1722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this morning I rise to discuss an issue 
which I hope Americans will come to realize is one of the most timely 
issues facing the U.S. Congress. Consider for a moment this is supposed 
to be a year of short sessions on Capitol Hill. Members of the House 
and Senate, anxious to return to their States and districts, hope to do 
the people's business in short order and go back home. They suggest 
that perhaps we have about 68 days of session remaining for this 
calendar year, which is an amazingly short session.
  I am concerned that we not forget during the course of the remaining 
days the high priority that faces us when it comes to the tobacco 
legislation. It is a high priority because each day, every day in the 
United States of America, 3,000 children start smoking for the first 
time. A third of those kids will ultimately become addicted and their 
lives will become shortened because of tobacco-related death and 
disease. This is a tragedy that is repeated every single day. So far 
this year, about 240,000 children in America have

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started their nicotine addiction. We have a chance through tobacco 
legislation to start reducing that number substantially. Every day that 
we wait, every day that we miss, we are certain that more kids will 
become addicted to this product.
  The tobacco companies understand there is a lot at stake here. Of 
course, they saw the lawsuits from 42 different States attorneys 
general and concluded that they needed to reach some kind of a 
settlement. They have gone on now to buy full-page ads in newspapers. 
In this morning's Wall Street Journal they urge the public to consider 
the importance of a tobacco settlement. It is nothing short of amazing 
that the tobacco industry, which years ago thumbed its noses at the 
public policy leaders of the United States and the public health 
experts, now starts talking in very positive terms about the fact that 
we need to do something--a massive, sustained assault against underage 
smoking, paid for by the tobacco companies, when each and every day 
they are addicting 3,000 more children.
  I say to the people who are following this debate it is no accident 
that these kids start smoking. They are appealed to by the advertising 
of tobacco companies. It is subtle, it is pervasive, and from their 
point of view, it is very effective.
  I hope that in this debate on tobacco legislation we do not lose 
sight of what is really at stake. First, right now in the State of 
Minnesota where Attorney General Skip Humphrey is vigorously 
prosecuting an action against tobacco companies, we are learning every 
single day of the depth of the deception of the tobacco companies. 
Because of Attorney General Humphrey's courage and initiative, they now 
have some 39,000 documents which the tobacco companies over the years 
have refused to publicize, which are now being ordered to be made 
public by the court. Tobacco companies, naturally, don't want us to see 
them, so they have taken this case on appeal. There are another 103,000 
documents which may involve children in advertising and other topics 
which should be released.
  I hope that these documents see the light of day because, as these 
documents are disclosed, we begin to realize the insidious campaign by 
the tobacco industry to lure our youth into addiction. The tobacco 
companies have systematically lied about what they know about their 
products. They have known for a long, long time that their products 
cause death and disease. They have known that their products are 
addictive. They have known that they are appealing to children. And yet 
they have categorically denied it. One of the most outrageous scenes in 
the history of Congress occurred before a subcommittee chaired by 
Congressman Waxman several years ago when the executives of the tobacco 
companies stood up under oath and swore that tobacco was not addictive. 
What an outrage. And the same executives of the same companies came 
before that committee and said, ``No, we are to not appealing to 
children. No, we are not trying to encourage high nicotine tobacco to 
addict people even more.'' We can't believe a word they say. Now, when 
their successors in ownership in these tobacco companies buy full-page 
ads and tell the American people what a great deal they have for them, 
I hope there is a healthy degree of skepticism across America.
  Let me tell you something else that needs to be taken into 
consideration in this debate. Not only has the tobacco industry 
systematically hidden the truth from the American people, they have had 
the opportunity in their own research to realize the devastation of 
their product and they have refused to acknowledge it. Time and again, 
we learn of the suppression of scientific research which could have 
saved lives.
  Thinking of the billions of dollars of profits that this industry has 
made at the expense of death and disease in America is an outrage.
  They have also tried to manipulate nicotine levels. They don't just 
take the tobacco leaves that come from the field and put them in the 
cigarettes and sell them to America. They like to spike the nicotine in 
there, get the addiction levels higher so you can't quit. How many 
people have you run into who said, ``I wish I could quit. I have tried 
everything. I chew the gum, put on the patch, go through hypnosis, go 
through acupuncture, try everything imaginable, and I cannot quit.''
  The tobacco companies had a role in that because they were making 
their product more addictive. They focused their marketing at 
children--imagine that. We are so concerned, and rightly so, about the 
scourge of drugs in America, narcotics and what it means to America's 
kids, but the single greatest addiction of our children is the 
addiction to nicotine, tobacco, and ultimately death and disease are a 
result of it. They have known this. The tobacco companies have been 
hawking their products to kids across America for decades. They lose a 
substantial number of their best customers each year. They lose about 
400,000 who die because of tobacco-related death and disease and then 
about 1.5 million who quit. They have to find 2 million new customers 
each year. You know what. They won't find them in adults. They find 
them in playgrounds, in school yards, in children who make a decision 
to smoke and, unfortunately, become addicted.
  Let me tell you what we have to look for in legislation here on 
Capitol Hill. We have to have performance standards that hold tobacco 
companies accountable so that we can look year to year to see if the 
number of children across America is being reduced for smoking. That 
can be done. It can be done by an aggressive advertising campaign, an 
aggressive campaign to enforce the laws across America in terms of 
illegal sales to minors. Any bill that comes to us for consideration on 
the floor that doesn't have performance standards for children should 
be rejected.
  Second, we have to give the Food and Drug Administration the power to 
fight this industry. Don't believe we can pass this bill and walk away. 
We have to give the agency the power to regulate nicotine, to make sure 
the tobacco companies don't get up to their old tricks again and come 
up with this high nicotine tobacco leaf to addict people even more. We 
have to make sure the tobacco industry pays and pays, in an amount that 
will not only compensate for the losses they have created across 
America, but to discourage kids from buying this product. I believe 
$1.50 per pack as a fee is a minimum--a minimum. To go less than that 
is really to not address the serious problem that faces us.
  This whole question of immunity, that is what it is about. That is 
why they are buying the ads. The tobacco companies want off the hook. 
They don't want people who are addicted today and die tomorrow to 
either sue personally or have their estates bring a lawsuit. They want 
to get out of this courtroom scene in a hurry. They want to get back to 
the boardroom scene where they make billions of dollars. I tell you 
this, we should not trade away the liability of these companies, 
because we believe as politicians that is the only way to hold this 
industry accountable. I hope there is enough political will among 
Democrats and Republicans to make sure that we have an agreement that 
is sensible.
  Finally, let us not, in the name of reaching a tobacco settlement, 
protect America's kids and endanger children around the world. The 
strategy of the tobacco companies in America is to export their product 
overseas. We used to have an image of America abroad, the stars and 
stripes, the great American image. You know what it is today? It is the 
cancer cowboy, the Marlboro man. You can find him on the streets and 
billboards in Warsaw, Poland; Bangkok, Thailand, all around the world. 
The new image of America, a sad image of America, an image of death and 
disease being promoted by the companies that are shameless in their 
efforts to exploit and addict children around the world. We cannot 
stand for that. It is a moral embarrassment to the United States of 
America if our legislation does not include strict limitations on the 
sale and advertising of American tobacco products overseas. We can do 
it. We should do it.
  For a century this Congress has enjoyed a reputation as a leader in 
the world in public health. Let us not in this next century bear the 
burden of a country that has exported death and disease by American 
tobacco. I hope that we pass this bill and pass it soon. For those who 
wonder whether we can get it done, I ask them to consider the 
following. Count the days remaining in the session. Count the children 
who become addicted to this product every

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day; count the lives that will be lost if we don't act; count on our 
responsibility in the Senate and the House to move this legislation as 
quickly as possible.

  I yield the remainder of my time.
  Mr. TORRICELLI addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey is recognized.

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