[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SURGEON GENERAL'S REPORT ON SMOKING AND HEALTH

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, this week is the 50th anniversary of the 
Surgeon General's landmark report on smoking and health. I join with 
some of my colleagues who have taken the floor this week to commemorate 
this anniversary.
  Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry's report was groundbreaking. For the 
first time, the government warned that ``smoking is a health hazard of 
sufficient importance in the United States''. This fundamentally 
changed how our country thought about smoking and was the basis for 
many of the successful tobacco control efforts of the past 50 years.
  Indeed, according to CDC data, in 1965 the year after the Surgeon 
General's report--approximately 42 percent of American adults smoked 
cigarettes. By 2011, that rate had dropped by more than half to 19 
percent. Hopefully this trend will continue, leading to better health 
for millions of Americans.
  Throughout my time in Congress, I have worked on initiatives to 
discourage our children from becoming smokers, supported measures to 
ban smoking in schools, and worked to enhance the FDA's ability to 
regulate the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
  We have come a long way since I proposed legislation in the late 
nineties to deny tobacco companies tax deductions for advertising to 
children. I was an original cosponsor of the Family Smoking Prevention 
and Tobacco Control Act, which became law in 2009 and incorporated the 
goals in my bill to keep the tobacco industry from targeting children 
as new customers. This law provides the FDA with the explicit authority 
to protect the public from deceptive cigarette advertisements, prevent 
the targeting of minors, and remove certain harmful ingredients from 
cigarettes.
  This was an important effort. But we also must continue to address 
new tobacco-related concerns as they arise. For instance, I was pleased 
to join several of my colleagues last year in urging the FDA to issue 
deeming regulations asserting its regulatory authority over e-
cigarettes and other tobacco products, and it is my hope that it will 
do so soon.
  We have made great strides during the last 50 years in reducing 
smoking rates and preventing tobacco-related illnesses, but we can and 
must do more. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to continue these efforts, which I believe are 
critically important to our Nation's long-term health.

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