[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 10, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6405-S6406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           FAMILY SMOKING PREVENTION AND TOBACCO CONTROL ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, after the close of morning business, we 
will return to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. 
This is a piece of legislation which has been in the making for two 
decades or more which would finally say that tobacco is going to be 
regulated, as it should have been a long time ago.
  For the longest time, the tobacco lobbyists were the most powerful 
lobby on Capitol Hill, and they managed to create an exemption in 
virtually every law so that no Federal agency could take a look at them 
and regulate them and basically know what we know about every product 
and service offered in America. They said: Well, the Food and Drug 
Administration shouldn't have any authority. The tobacco lobby argued: 
We are not really food and we are not really a drug. So they managed to 
wiggle their way through the Federal statute book and at the end of the 
day have virtually no regulation or oversight. Unfortunately, while 
they have been doing that, 400,000 Americans have been dying every year 
of tobacco-related disease. It is the No. 1 preventable cause of death 
in America today. It is a product which is sold legally and a product 
which kills with lethality. That is a fact.
  We know from experience that the tobacco industry has a tough 
assignment. What kind of business can survive that loses 400,000 of its 
customers every year, customers who die because of addiction to 
tobacco-related products? They needed a marketing campaign. The problem 
was, if you tried to market tobacco products to adults, most of them 
had the good sense to say: That is not a smart thing to do; I am going 
to stay away from tobacco. So they had to change their marketing 
strategy. If you couldn't market to adults, you know the kids may be 
vulnerable, and that is where they went, with a vengeance, with the 
idea of addicting children to tobacco early in life, because, of 
course, tobacco products, with nicotine, are addictive. To some, it is 
a very strong addiction. They fight for a lifetime, with patches and a 
doctor's care and hypnosis and anything they can think of. Some people 
can shake it and move away from it; others spend a lifetime addicted. 
So the tobacco companies went after the kids. They knew if they could 
get their products in the hands of children, and children would try 
them, they would become the next generation of smokers and ultimately a 
future generation of victims of tobacco. So this deadly cycle began by 
the tobacco companies, and the Federal Government took a hands-off 
attitude.
  Back in the 1960s, we created a little warning label on tobacco 
cigarettes. You see it on billboards. It is so small,

[[Page S6406]]

people don't notice it. It has become so commonplace, nobody even 
registers with the message it delivers.
  For the longest time, we have argued that tobacco should be 
regulated, that the products that are sold in America should have an 
agency with oversight keeping an eye on them. The tobacco companies 
fought it off year after year.
  Finally, with this new President, with this new Congress, we have 
reached the moment where we have a chance to pass this important 
legislation. This is a bill that will protect children and will protect 
America, and it will reduce tobacco use. The House passed their version 
last month with a wide majority, and now it is time for the Senate to 
act. Every day that we don't act, 3,500 American kids--children--will 
light up for the first time. That is enough to fill 70 schoolbuses of 
kids who will try cigarettes every single day for the first time. A 
thousand of those 3,500 will then become regular smokers. The addiction 
will begin.
  Tobacco companies spend nearly $40 million every day to lure this new 
generation of customers with blatant deceptive advertising--promotions 
of candy-flavored cigarettes and advertising that is aimed directly at 
kids--all the while they are loading their products not just with 
tobacco leaf but with chemicals. They put in extra nicotine, 
incidentally. If there isn't enough nicotine naturally occurring in 
tobacco, they load it up so that your addiction becomes stronger, your 
craving grows, and your body demands more and more tobacco. It is time 
we put a stop to this marketing and give the Food and Drug 
Administration the authority to regulate this industry.
  There are 43 million Americans who smoke today. People often say to 
me: Well, why don't we just ban this product? If I thought that would 
end smoking in America, I might consider it. But we know better. With 
43 million Americans currently addicted, they are not going to quit 
cold turkey tomorrow. A black market would emerge, and then the next 
thing you know the underground economy would be sustaining tobacco. 
That would not be the result we are looking for.
  In my home State of Illinois, about one out of five kids smokes. That 
means that every year 65,000 kids in Illinois try a cigarette for the 
first time, and almost 20,000 become regular daily smokers. These kids 
consume 34 million packs of cigarettes a year. There are 8.6 million 
people in the United States who currently suffer from tobacco-related 
disease. It is responsible for 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, one-
third of all cancer deaths, and one in five deaths from cardiovascular 
disease. Approximately half of all continuing smokers will die 
prematurely as a result of the disease. Sadly, in Illinois, 317,000 
kids alive today will eventually die from the smoking addiction which 
they started as kids.
  Here is what the bill does. We put teeth in the law to restrict the 
marketing and sale of tobacco products to kids. We require tobacco 
companies to disclose the ingredients on their products. We require the 
Food and Drug Administration to evaluate any health claims for 
scientific accuracy and public health impact. We give the FDA the power 
to require companies to make changes to tobacco products to protect 
public health. And we require larger, stronger warning health notices 
on tobacco products. These are commonsense reforms that will start to 
reduce the terrible toll tobacco has taken on families all across this 
Nation. The FDA is the right agency to do this. It is the only agency 
that can bring together science, regulatory expertise, and the public 
health mission to do the job. Through a user fee on tobacco companies, 
the bill gives the agency the money it needs to conduct its new 
responsibilities.
  This is a strong public health bill, and it is a bipartisan bill. 
After more than 10 years of effort, we have never been so close to 
giving the FDA the authority it needs to regulate tobacco. I urge my 
colleagues to resist any amendments that will weaken this bill or add 
provisions that might stop it from becoming a law. FDA regulation of 
tobacco products is long overdue.
  I can recall arriving on Capitol Hill as a new Congressman years and 
years ago. In the first orientation meeting we had as new Democratic 
Congressmen, one of the older Members of the House came in, closed the 
door, and said: I want to tell you something. When tobacco issues come 
up, we vote with the tobacco companies. That is for your friends in 
tobacco-producing States. You give them a helping hand, and someday 
they may give you a helping hand. That is the way it works.
  Well, that was one of the first things we were told about being a 
Member of Congress; tobacco was that important on the political agenda. 
Certainly for some Members from tobacco-producing States, it may have 
been the most important thing that brought them to Capitol Hill. 
However, over the years, some of us wandered off of this agenda. I 
offered an amendment to ban smoking on airplanes and had the opposition 
of all of the leaders in the House of Representatives, Democrat and 
Republican. But it turned out that so many Members of the House flew in 
airplanes and couldn't stand this fiction of smoking section and 
nonsmoking section that they supported my amendment. So over 20 years 
ago we banned smoking on airplanes.

  Frank Lautenberg was my champion over here in the Senate and together 
we started a Federal policy that I might say kind of tipped one domino 
over and people started saying if secondhand smoke is dangerous on 
airplanes it is dangerous in other places.
  That movement has grown in intensity. We have seen the kind of 
leadership at local and State levels that has continued to make it a 
potent force. But today is our chance. As I mentioned earlier, I am 
sure Senator Dodd will join me saying we wish one of our colleagues 
were with us here today, and that is Ted Kennedy, who is home 
recuperating. Ted Kennedy was our champion and inspiration for years on 
this issue. He hung in there and fought for this when a lot of people 
gave up. Ted never gave up. When it came to the issues in his heart and 
soul, he fought as long as he possibly could.
  We continue that fight today and he handed the banner to Senator 
Dodd, who has done an extraordinarily good job on this bill. He has 
been called into action in the Senate repeatedly. Just a few weeks ago 
we passed the Credit Card Reform Act after more than 20 years of 
trying. We finally got it done. It was a dramatic change in the law to 
protect consumers and families across America.
  Today, with the passage of this--at least the movement of this bill 
forward toward passage this week--we are going to be able to protect 
millions of children and Americans from deadly tobacco-related disease.
  I thank Senator Dodd for his leadership. I commend this bill to our 
colleagues. This is our moment in history. Let's not miss it. Let's 
seize this opportunity to create protection for a lot of young people 
who will otherwise find you are compromised by this deadly tobacco 
product.
  I yield the floor.

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