Dodd Calls for Quick Action to Protect Children from Dangers of Smoking

Holds Press Conference to Discuss the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Chairman Edward Kennedys chief deputy for health care reform, held a press conference today with Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Jack Reed (D-RI) to discuss the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Dodd was also joined by Matt Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Every year, 15,000 Connecticut children try cigarettes for the first time, Dodd said. 76,000 Connecticut children, alive today, are expected to eventually die from smoking. Tobacco companies know that if they cant addict children, then they wont have any customers. Its time for the tobacco industry to come up with a new business model and this bill will force them to.

This bipartisan legislation will empower the FDA to regulate tobacco products, allowing the agency to take actions that will help prevent youth smoking and reduce the toll of illness and death caused by tobacco use. The FDA will have the authority to: * prevent tobacco advertising which targets children, * prevent the sale of tobacco products to minors, * strengthen warnings on the health risks of smoking, * help smokers overcome their addiction, * make tobacco products less toxic and less addictive for those who continue to use them, * prohibit unsubstantiated health claims about supposedly reduced risk products, * stop the tobacco industry from misleading the public about the dangers of smoking.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Senate
• Senator
• Chris
• Dodd
• Congress
• FDA
• Tobacco
• Cigarettes
• Children
• Health
• Regulation

[Lokivoid]

"Protect Children from Dangers" Bullshit. nothing in the bill effects children what so ever. And it is not a "public health issue" it does not cost you dearly according to last annual report you infact made three times more from tobacco tax then we spent on health care for tobacco related illnesses. Allso substract the pention pay all those who died from tobacco related causes from health care total. This is just a medical tax excuse full of "watermark" pay off's

[dayindayout77]

Yea Ted Kennedy isn't with us today because he has a big ass brain tumor. Shit, i guess we can still die from cancer even if we don't smoke. I'm not a smoker, but if people want to smoke let them. We're all going to die anyway. And i knew that smoking was bad for you and could kill you by the time that i was 12 years old. Kids smoke because they see other people smoking, not because they see a freaking add in a magazine.

[valcaron]

And this kind of abusing the tax system specifically for social engineering is exactly why I vote Libertarian.

[FrsBigeasy]

I'm for the FDA regulating getting involved in how Tobacco is regulated in America. I'm not for prohibition, we tried that with alcohol which clearly didn't work. But I do think we can cut back on tobacco use by keeping it away from adolescents by putting in advertising restrictions & taxing it heavily so people might have to think twice before purchasing it.