[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 53 (Monday, May 4, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4144-S4145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TOBACCO LEGISLATION

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I came to the floor today to talk for just 
a moment about the tobacco legislation that is to be brought to the 
floor of the Senate. My understanding is that we will consider, in the 
next perhaps month, the tobacco legislation that was enacted by the 
Senate Commerce Committee, of which I am a member.
  The Senate Commerce Committee considered a comprehensive tobacco 
bill. We passed it, and the vote was 19 to 1. The legislation is 
controversial, to be sure, and the tobacco industry has now ratcheted 
up an enormous amount of money and energy directed at trying to kill 
the bill.
  I thought it would be interesting to read into the Record a few 
comments here and there dealing with the tobacco companies and why they 
are so interested in killing this tobacco legislation. We will see an 
enormous amount of money spent on advertising to try to kill this 
legislation.
  My colleague, Senator Conrad from North Dakota, chaired a task force 
on the issue of tobacco and created a piece of legislation. He has done 
a wonderful job, in my judgment, dealing this with issue, and the 
Senate could well take its cues from the work Senator Conrad has done. 
Incidentally, the Senate Commerce Committee took much from the 
legislation Senator Conrad introduced in the Congress.
  The reason we are concerned about the tobacco issue is the targeting 
of teenagers in this country to get them to smoke. I have said before 
on the floor that almost no one reaches age 30 and wonders, ``What more 
could I do to fulfill my life?'' and decides they should start smoking. 
Almost no one reaches majority age and says, ``Gee, what am I 
missing?'' and concludes what they have really missed is, they have not 
smoked and they need to start smoking cigarettes. The reason they don't 
arrive at that answer is that by that age, they know that cigarettes 
can kill you.
  Mr. President, 300,000 to 400,000 people a year die in this country 
from smoking and smoking-related causes, and the only future customers 
for tobacco are kids. The only conceivable future customers for 
cigarettes are children, and that is why many in this country, myself 
included, believe it is important for us to say to the tobacco 
industry, ``Never again shall you target America's children to addict 
them to tobacco, addict them to nicotine. We won't allow it.'' That is 
what the tobacco legislation is all about.
  What did the tobacco companies know, and when did they know it about 
the subject of nicotine? We are now hearing a lot of testimony and 
discussion about that. Tobacco companies have been at the forefront of 
nicotine research in the last several decades. In fact, the tobacco 
companies, since the early 1960s, claimed that nicotine was not 
addictive and anyone who smokes makes a free choice to smoke.
  By the 1960s, however, all of the reports we are now seeing, 
including confidential memoranda and data from a tobacco company, 
showed us they had developed a very sophisticated understanding of 
nicotine pharmacology and they knew very well that nicotine was 
pharmacologically addictive. The release of internal tobacco company 
documents makes it clear. They realize the impact and significance of 
nicotine.
  In 1963, a British American Tobacco document said:

       Nicotine is by far the most characteristic single 
     constituent in tobacco, and the known physiological effects 
     are positively correlated with smoker response.

  In 1969, a draft report to the Philip Morris board of directors said:

       In the past, we at R&D--that is research and development--
     have said that we're not in the cigarette business, we're in 
     the smoke business. It might be more pointed to observe that 
     the cigarette is the vehicle of smoke, smoke is the vehicle 
     of nicotine and nicotine is the agent of a pleasurable body 
     response.

  In a memo from 1978, Brown & Williamson, signed by H.D. Steele says:

       Very few consumers are aware of the effects of nicotine, 
     i.e., its addictive nature and that nicotine is a poison.


[[Page S4145]]


  That is a tobacco industry paper.

       There is little doubt if it were not for the nicotine in 
     tobacco smoke, people would be less inclined to smoke than 
     they are to blow bubbles or to light sparklers.

  M.A.H. Russell, 1974.
  1983, Brown & Williamson:

       Nicotine is the addicting agent in cigarettes.

  1983, Brown & Williamson:

       Raleigh and Belair smokers are addicted to smoking. . . . 
     They smoke primarily to reduce negative feeling states rather 
     than for pleasure. Given their low income, smoking represents 
     a financial drain on family resources. Saving coupons for 
     household items helps reduce guilt associated with smoking.

  How about the health effects of tobacco? What do the tobacco 
companies know about that?
  The vice president of a tobacco company, in 1963, said:

       At best, the probabilities are that some combination of 
     constituents of smoke will be found conducive to the onset of 
     cancer or to create an environment in which cancer is more 
     likely to occur.

  That is ``at best,'' he says. That is a fellow who helps run a 
tobacco company.
  1970, lung cancer experiments that were done by the general manager 
of research prepared for the managing director of Gallaher Electronic 
Telegraph:

       One of the striking features of the Auerbach experiment was 
     that practically every dog which smoked suffered 
     significantly from the effects of the smoke either in terms 
     of severe irritation and bronchitis, pre-cancerous changes or 
     cancer.

  A top research official for the American Tobacco Company, 1970:

       [W]e believe the Auerbach work proves beyond reasonable 
     doubt that fresh whole cigarette smoke is carcinogenic to dog 
     lungs and therefore it is highly likely that it is 
     carcinogenic to human beings.
       [T]he results of the research would appear to us to remove 
     the controversy regarding the causation of human lung cancer 
     . . .

  How about tobacco companies targeting kids?
  1981, Philip Morris, a report from a researcher to the Vice President 
of Research and Development at Philip Morris. He says:

       Today's teenager is tomorrow's potential regular customer, 
     and the overwhelming majority of smokers first begin to smoke 
     while in their teens. At least a part of the success of 
     Marlboro Red during its most rapid growth period was because 
     it became the brand of choice among teenagers who then stuck 
     with it as they grew older.

  Teenage smokers. A memorandum from the tobacco industry:

       To improve our ability to forecast future trends, this 
     report examines the demographics and smoking behavior of 14-
     17 year old smokers.

  This is a company now that is doing detailed research on 14- to 17-
year-old smokers. ``Forecasting future trends,'' that means ``they're 
our customers. We're interested in them. We want to keep them 
smoking.''
  One company was concerned because their share of teenaged smokers 
declined while the share of teenagers who purchased a competitive brand 
increased. That concerned the company a great deal.
  Another tobacco industry statement:

       It is important to know as much as possible about teenage 
     smoking patterns and attitudes. Today's teenager is 
     tomorrow's potential regular customer. . . . it is during the 
     teenage years that the initial brand choice is made.

  And that is the statement from a tobacco company.
  Now, the consequences of tobacco smoking are quite clear. Tobacco is 
a legal product, and in my judgment shall and will be legal in the 
future. But it is not a legal product for children. An industry that 
has record profits and has targeted children, because it believes that 
children are its future customers, is an industry that, in my judgment, 
is sadly out of touch with its responsibilities.
  The U.S. Senate and the Congress has a responsibility to take up the 
tobacco bill. We passed it out of the Senate Commerce Committee now 
nearly a month ago under the leadership of Senator McCain. I noted 
today in the newspapers that Senator McCain indicated that, I believe 
he said $50 to $100 million is to be spent by the tobacco industry to 
defeat efforts in Congress to pass a comprehensive tobacco bill.
  I hope the American people take note that this industry is the same 
industry which said tobacco is not addictive when in fact they knew it 
was addictive. They were saying we are not targeting children when in 
fact they were targeting children.
  I hope the American people understand, as well, that when the tobacco 
industry launches a massive effort to try to derail the efforts of the 
Congress to pass a comprehensive tobacco bill, the American people have 
the capability in this system of ours to make the difference. They can 
weigh in. They can make their views known about whether or not they 
believe this Congress shall pass a piece of legislation to stop this 
industry from targeting America's children and from trying to addict 
America's children to cigarettes.
  Mr. President, my colleague from North Dakota, Senator Conrad, is on 
the floor. I would like to yield to him as much time as he consumes to 
discuss another issue, and at the conclusion of his remarks, it is my 
intention to follow up on the issue he is going to discuss. Let me 
yield the time that he consumes to Senator Conrad.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
  Mr. CONRAD. I thank you very much, and my colleague from North 
Dakota, Senator Dorgan, for this time.

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