[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S1801]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CURBING TOBACCO USE IN THE THIRD WORLD

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, public and private institutions all 
across the United States have invested enormous amounts of time and 
money to educate Americans about the dangers from smoking, and to curb 
tobacco advertising especially that targets minors. Nationwide 
campaigns have raised awareness about the health and economic costs of 
cigarettes. Lawmakers have focused on holding the tobacco companies 
responsible for the incalculable harm their products, and their decades 
of lies, have done to our society. Parents, schools and local 
governments have joined together to keep children from starting to use 
tobacco.
  The attention has paid off, although their is much more that needs to 
be done. Laws that seek to protect children from tobacco advertising 
have become stricter, warning labels on cigarette packaging contain 
stronger language, the price of cigarettes has gone up, and regulations 
on second-hand smoke have become broader and more inclusive. The number 
of stories in the media about the tobacco industry and the horrors of 
lung cancer and emphysema are an indication of how far we have come.
  What has been sorely lacking, however, is the same kind of attention 
on the effects of tobacco use in developing nations where an estimated 
800 million people smoke and the consumption of cigarettes is rising 
steadily. As the market for tobacco products in the US declines, 
tobacco companies are aggressively pursuing these lucrative foreign 
markets. It is projected that adult consumption of cigarettes in the 
developing countries will exceed that in the industrialized countries 
within the next decade. These figures do not even take into account 
that in many developing countries the number of people under eighteen--
those most susceptible to tobacco advertising and most inclined to 
start smoking--is more than fifty percent of the population. In a 
matter of years, tobacco will be a leading cause of death in countries 
whose poor healthcare systems cannot possibly care for them.
  Why should this matter to us? Each year, we provide billions of 
dollars in foreign aid to improve the lives of people overseas. We 
spend tens of millions of dollars to support foreign health programs. 
It is absurd that in the same countries where we are spending precious 
American tax dollars to try to save lives, American tobacco companies 
are pushing their deadly products.
  Until recently, it was even worse than that. According to a February 
16, 1998 ``New York Times'' article, there has been a long history of 
collaboration between the US Government and tobacco companies to 
introduce American cigarettes into foreign markets and to fight anti-
smoking regulations overseas. It is reported that in 1992 the US 
Government and the tobacco companies worked hand-in-hand against an 
effort by Thai authorities to require tobacco companies to disclose the 
ingredients in their cigarettes.
  Fortunately, the US Government is finally catching up with the times. 
In February, the State Department directed our embassies and foreign 
commercial offices to stop promoting the sale or export of American 
tobacco products. They were also told to stop trying to block 
restrictions from being placed on these products.
  Mr. President, the dangers of smoking have been established and 
Americans are responding by taking steps to curb their tobacco 
consumption. As our efforts against tobacco in the US pay off, we must 
also help the developing countries curb their own consumption. One step 
in the right direction is the Healthy Kids Act, of which I am a 
cosponsor. Introduced by Senator Conrad on February 12, 1998, the Act 
contains a provision to establish the ``American Center on Global 
Health and Tobacco'' to assist other countries curb tobacco use.
  In addition, on July 23, 1997 Senator Lautenberg introduced the 
Worldwide Tobacco Disclosure Act. It would subject exported cigarettes 
to the same restrictions on labeling that apply to the sale and 
distribution of cigarettes in the United States and prevent U.S. 
Government officials from working against other countries' restrictions 
on tobacco. We should do everything we can to try to protect the people 
in those countries from the dangers of tobacco, as we are protecting 
ourselves. Hundreds of millions of lives, and billions of dollars that 
could otherwise be used to educate, house and employ people, are at 
stake.

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