[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 130 (Friday, August 1, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1699-E1700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           FAMILY SMOKING PREVENTION AND TOBACCO CONTROL ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. VIRGINIA FOXX

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 30, 2008

  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I strongly oppose this 190-page bill, 
hastily offered under suspension of the rules, which establishes a new 
Federal authority for the regulation of the tobacco industry. This 
legislation adds another layer of bureaucracy to the already 
overburdened Food and Drug Administration, and another layer of 
regulation to American consumers' lives.
  This bill includes more than $5 billion in new tax increases on 
tobacco companies and gives sweeping control of the tobacco market to 
the FDA. Chairman Dingell, discussing the recent salmonella outbreak, 
was recently quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that ``there's 
a total inability of the FDA to

[[Page E1700]]

carry out its mission.'' This isn't the first Democrat to raise 
questions about the effectiveness of the FDA. Thus, it is highly 
hypocritical of them to extend the agency's regulatory authority to a 
multi-billion dollar industry of which the FDA has no expertise.
  Furthermore, as FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach testified 
before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in October 2007, the FDA 
is an agency intended to promote and protect the public health. In the 
Commissioner's opinion, requiring the FDA to ``approve'' tobacco 
products as a result of this bill would dramatically change the 
agency's focus. Mr. von Eschenbach stated, ``Associating any agency 
whose mission is to promote public health with the approval of 
inherently dangerous products would undermine its mission and likely 
have perverse incentive effects.''
  While establishing FDA authority to regulate tobacco products, this 
bill would also retain the FTC's Federal authority to regulate tobacco 
advertising and circulation. It would provide only limited pre-emption 
of State laws, allowing more rigid State restrictions on tobacco 
advertising. These multiple layers of regulation will impose undue 
bureaucratic and logistical hardships on tobacco manufacturers. It is 
important to remember that the sale of tobacco, according to current 
law and expressly reinforced in this bill, is legal in the United 
States and can be credited with hundreds of thousands of jobs across 
the country.
  As Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Leavitt noted, 
this legislation could also be viewed by foreign governments as a 
hostile trade action. Many of the clove and other flavored cigarettes 
that are banned under this bill are manufactured in foreign countries. 
However, this bill expressly permits production of menthol cigarettes. 
This could lead Indonesia or other foreign governments to file 
complaints at the World Trade Organization claiming discrimination 
against their products. Ultimately, retaliatory measures could be taken 
against American-made products, which could lead to unnecessary trade 
disputes with a negative effect on economic growth.
  Finally, this legislation would have little impact on overall tobacco 
use. If this bill is enacted, the Congressional Budget Office has 
estimated that smoking by adults would decline only by 2 percent after 
10 years. This marginal reduction does not warrant this legislation's 
significant intrusion on free speech rights and expansion of 
government-run regulatory bureaucracy. Therefore, I strongly oppose 
this bill and urge my colleagues to vote against it.

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