[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16750]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    TAKING ACTION TO PROTECT HEALTH

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this Congress is taking action to help 
protect world health in the fight against HIV AIDS.
  In Colombia we are spending over a billion dollars to fight the grip 
of the deadly coca trade that includes eradication of the coca plant 
and aid to farmers to attempt to shift their production.
  I find it ironic in the midst of this action by Congress that there 
are some that would have us reverse a long-standing policy and start 
promoting the sale of American tobacco overseas. Tobacco is the only 
legal product which, if used properly, will kill or at least inflict 
serious bodily damage.
  The effects on Americans are clear to most policy-makers. Close to 
360,000 Americans will die of lung disease this year. It is the third 
largest cause of death responsible for one in seven deaths. More than 
25 million Americans are now living with chronic lung disease, and the 
use of tobacco is the leading cause in that condition.
  Sadly, the impacts of tobacco-related lung disease is not limited to 
the United States. Tobacco was estimated to account for just over 3 
million annual deaths worldwide in 1990, and that is rising to over 4 
million deaths currently. It is estimated that tobacco attributable 
deaths will rise to 8.5 million within the next 20 years and 10 million 
in about 2030.
  According to the World Health Organization, while tobacco use is 
actually declining in many developed countries, it is increasing 
rapidly in those that are developing.
  In China alone, 14.5 percent of the deaths are attributable to 
tobacco. What is dramatically different in China is that in other 
developed countries with a similar rate the number of smokers is 
growing rapidly, such that two-thirds of the men are smokers before the 
age of 25. Few quit and about half can be expected to be killed by 
tobacco. In practical terms, this means in China the number of male 
deaths alone from tobacco is expected to be roughly 3 million annually 
by the middle of the century.
  Mr. Speaker, it is sad to me that after decades of deception and 
death that we are starting to turn the corner in this country where we 
have hundreds of billions of dollars in tobacco settlement that is 
available only after litigation. It is something that this Congress was 
unwilling or unable to correct to try and help reduce the number of new 
addicts and victims. It has opportunity to help not just the people who 
are addicted to tobacco but to help change the patterns in this 
country, like we are doing in Colombia to help farmers be involved with 
productive crops that are not destructive crops.
  There are some states that have used tobacco settlement money to do 
that, like Maryland. I would hope that this Congress would not reverse 
course, that it would not start promoting the use of our tax dollars to 
promote the sale of tobacco overseas, but keep our eye on our priority, 
which is to reduce dependence on tobacco, help wean the American farmer 
away from dependence on tobacco, use our resources to stop the 
destruction of death and disease around the world.
  It would be ironic that a Congress that is working to stop these 
abusive practices in Colombia with addictive drugs, that is trying to 
fight the spread of HIV AIDS around the world, would take a tragic step 
backward.
  There was an attempt to insert in the agriculture bill an amendment 
that would reverse this 8 year prohibition on using U.S. resources to 
promote subsidization of tobacco sales overseas. Wisely, the Committee 
on International Relations, on a broad bipartisan vote, voted to remove 
those provisions from the agriculture bill.
  I hope my colleagues will stand firm. Keep the existing policies. 
Stop the export of death overseas with tobacco.

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