From: SMOKEFREE@compuserve.com
Date: Thu, 07/31/08
Mike Enzi
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
For Immediate Release
Contact: Craig Orefield
202-224-6770
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
ENZI DENOUNCES HOUSE PASSAGE OF "MARLBORO PROTECTION ACT"
"BIG TOBACCO SUPPORTS THIS BILL BECAUSE IT WILL NOT STOP ANYONE FROM
SMOKING"
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today
denounced passage by the House of Representatives of a so-called tobacco
regulation bill he said "coddles Big Tobacco while protecting the
industry’s best tools to recruit and addict your children to tobacco."
"Trying to make cigarettes safer through a billion-dollar bureaucracy is a
waste of time and money," Enzi said. "The right approach is to get people
to stop smoking, or better yet, never to start. Big Tobacco supports this
bill because it will not stop anyone from smoking."
"Tobacco is one of the biggest contributors to our nation’s growing health
care crisis. We need to fight the war on tobacco head on, not sign a peace
treaty with Philip Morris, a company that perpetuates and profits from the
crisis. Big Tobacco supports this bill because they have a stake in
maintaining the status quo. I don't. They’re happy with a bill that
doesn’t stop people from smoking; I’m not. I want real change, so I’m
going to fight this bill and its Big Tobacco backers by objecting to it in
the Senate."
Enzi noted that the bill would allow Big Tobacco to continue its aggressive
marketing to kids by exempting menthol from a list of banned flavorings.
Menthol is used by Big Tobacco to target and lure young smokers,
particularly African-Americans. "Last year, during HELP Committee
consideration of this bill, I filed several amendments addressing the
menthol issue. Folks need to understand this glaring loophole in the bill
and how it puts our kids at risk.
"We know that Big Tobacco targets children and teenagers - particularly
young African-Americans - by aggressively marketing menthol cigarettes to
them," Enzi said. "So why does this bill ban almost every type of
flavoring in tobacco products except menthol? Supporters of this bill
claim they want to protect children and families from unscrupulous tobacco
companies, but the only people this approach protects is Big Tobacco."
The House today approved the "Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control
Act," H.R. 1108, a bill that would require the regulation of tobacco
products by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bill would gut the
authority that Congress has bestowed and staunchly defended for the FDA -
the authority to remove health threats from the marketplace, Enzi
maintained. Philip Morris, the nation’s largest cigarette maker, helped
draft the bill.
"Poison peddlers shouldn't get to decide how we fight the war against their
deadly products. I urge my friends in the public health community not to
become so desperate to do something about the tobacco problem in this
country that they fall for this wolf in sheep’s clothing," Enzi added.
"Keep asking yourself: if this bill is good for Big Tobacco, how can it be
good for public health? The fact is it can’t. This bill is nothing more
than a ‘Marlboro Protection Act,’ written to keep Philip Morris at the top
of the tobacco market."
Enzi urged his colleagues to consider legislation he introduced last year
to wipe out tobacco use in America through an innovative cap-and-trade
program that will shrink the size of the tobacco market over the next 20
years.
"Tobacco kills. We need new ideas to tackle tobacco use," Enzi said.
"That’s what my legislation does. My bill contains a novel cap-and-trade
program that will guarantee that fewer people suffer the deadly
consequences of smoking, while providing flexibility in how those
reductions are achieved."
The Enzi proposal, the "Help End Addiction to Lethal Tobacco Habits Act"
(HEALTH Act), S. 1834, would also close loopholes in the law that tobacco
companies have exploited and enjoyed for far too long. It would use proven
approaches to help people stop using tobacco products and implement tried
and true prevention programs.
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