[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 44 (Tuesday, April 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                AMERICA NEEDS STRONG TOBACCO LEGISLATION

  (Mr. ALLEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, there are those here in Washington who 
believe that we do not need strong tobacco legislation. The other day 
the tobacco industry announced that it was withdrawing from settlement 
negotiations. But we need strong legislation because what is happening 
back at home is criminal.
  Let me give my colleagues an example. I am proud of my home State of 
Maine, but back in Maine we have a smoking problem. We just did a 
survey in Maine, and it shows that teenage girls are smoking at a 
higher rate than boys and that the smoking rate of young girls has 
increased by 30 percent since 1993.
  As one of our officials said, ``Now the slogan `you've come a long 
way, baby' has different meaning in Maine.'' As our Human Services 
Commissioner said, we would call out the Marines, the National Guard 
and the Border Patrol if we thought that the Colombian drug cartel was 
on their way to addicting one-quarter of America's youths, but the 
tobacco industry has free reign.
  It is time to call a halt. It is time in this session for strong 
tobacco legislation.

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