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House Health Subcommittee Acts to Protect Kids and Save Lives by Approving Bill to Regulate Tobacco Products |
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From PR Newswire: Government and Policy: The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health today acted to protect our children and the nation's health by approving legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products. This is a very strong bill that provides the FDA with ample resources and effective authority to bring about fundamental change that will promote public health. Today's subcommittee vote moves Congress a critical step closer to enacting truly historic legislation that can protect our children from tobacco addiction and save countless lives. Companion Senate legislation was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on August 1. It is clear from the strong support in both political parties and both chambers of Congress that Congress has the votes to pass this bipartisan legislation now. In 2007, both the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences and the President's Cancer Panel issued landmark reports endorsing FDA regulation of tobacco products. The need for this legislation couldn't be clearer. Tobacco use is the nation's leading preventable cause of death, killing more than 400,000 people and costing nearly $100 billion in health care bills each year. Every day, another 1,200 Americans die from tobacco use and more than 1,000 children become new regular smokers. The report reveals how tobacco manufacturers have responded to declines in smoking by introducing a new generation of deadly and addictive products, including candy and fruit-flavored products that appeal to kids and products that try to deter smokers from quitting by making unproven and misleading claims that they are less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
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