[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 52 (Friday, May 1, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4021-S4022]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TOBACCO LEGISLATION AND TEEN SMOKING

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I had hoped to be in Burlington, VT, 
this morning meeting with a group of high school students. They have 
been studying tobacco use among adults and teens and talking about the 
proposed tobacco settlement in their health and civics classes. I 
regret that I am not able to be in Vermont to talk with them.
  But I do want to take this opportunity to express my support for 
prompt consideration of tobacco legislation. When I look around the 
classrooms here in D.C. with students here in D.C.--when I read in the 
Brent School, or when I meet students at home, as I had planned to 
today--I see dozens of faces alive with potential. I see those kids as 
the soccer and track stars. I wonder which ones enjoy science and which 
ones are the budding

[[Page S4022]]

artists. To me, each of these kids represents an unknown but a 
promising future.
  To the tobacco industry, every single one of these kids represents 
nothing more than a replacement smoker. The tobacco industry's goal is 
to turn each of these young athletes and budding scientists into a 
smoker. We know now that the tobacco industry has plotted to capture 
the cub scout and the kindergarten market.
  We have documentation that the tobacco industry has studied the 
behavior of children as young as 5 to determine how susceptible they 
are. And their scheming has worked. Every day, every week of every 
year, 3,000 children become addicted to cigarettes. A third of them 
will die early from smoking, and those who go on to raise families will 
endanger their children through low birthweight complications and 
secondhand smoke.
  Vermont and other States have done much to combat teen smoking. I 
applaud the parents, teachers, and State health officials who have led 
the battle against big tobacco at the local level. It is time now for 
Congress to do something too.
  Ever since the Attorneys General announced their proposed settlement 
last June, Congress has been talking to experts and debating the best 
approach to reduce teen smoking. But the time for talking is behind us. 
And time is running out. It is critical that the Senate act on tobacco 
legislation in the coming weeks. We cannot allow politics to stand in 
the way of this rare opportunity. This issue is too important and too 
complicated to leave to the last minute.
  As chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, I have 
held seven hearings on the question of what tobacco policy would be 
best for this country. We heard from the experts that there is no 
silver bullet that will solve the problem of teen smoking. But that is 
no excuse for inactivity. Smoking kills 400,000 people a year, and it 
is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Nine 
out of ten smokers became addicted as teenagers.
  My home State of Vermont, unfortunately, is not immune from the 
problem. Our teen smoking rate is higher--higher--than the national 
average. More than one in every three Vermont high school students are 
regular smokers. More than 12,000 Vermont teens currently under age 18 
will die prematurely from tobacco-related disease. That is like wiping 
the towns of Underhill, Jericho, Richmond, and Huntington right off the 
map--wiping them right off the map.
  Despite the best efforts of parents, educators, and health 
professionals around the State over the past few years, more and more 
teenagers are deciding to smoke. Unless we act now to help them quit, 
most of these kids will continue to smoke into adulthood.
  I pledge to Vermonters that I will do everything I can to enact 
comprehensive tobacco legislation this year. In February, I introduced 
the Prevent Addiction To Smoking Among Teens Act, the PAST Act, to 
enact and improve upon the public health provisions of the tobacco 
settlement. Last month, the Senate Commerce Committee passed 
comprehensive legislation which incorporated many of the public health 
provisions originally proposed in the PAST Act.
  As tobacco legislation moves through the Senate, I will continue my 
fight to ensure that we keep our eyes on the goal of improving the 
public health and preventing kids from smoking. Congress needs to pass 
legislation which will prevent kids from smoking. Even though there is 
no silver bullet, we do know of many approaches which have proven 
effective, particularly when used in combination.
  A national tobacco policy must give the Food and Drug Administration 
full authority to regulate tobacco, the Centers for Disease Control, 
the National Institutes of Health, and the State health departments, 
and others in the fight to convince high school students not to smoke, 
and to treat those who have decided to do so, as well as we can, to get 
them to stop.
  We need to make teen smoking a thing of the past. I cannot think of a 
better graduation present for high school seniors in Vermont and around 
the country than to stop teenage smoking.
  Mr. President, thank you very much. I yield back the balance of my 
time. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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