AARC Supports Tobacco Initiatives Heading to New Congress
January 11, 2007
The new Congress is now in session, and the AARC is working hard to ensure it considers important legislation related to tobacco control.
Along with fellow organizations in the Partners for Effective Tobacco Policy (PARTNERS) coalition, the AARC has signed on to two new letters going out to members of Congress this week.
The first letter outlines PARTNERS’ top priority for 2007 – Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of the tobacco industry. The letter notes the tobacco industry is the only consumer product industry in the nation allowed to operate without such oversight and calls on Congress to support legislation set to be reintroduced into the new Congress to place the industry under the purview of the FDA.
“Legislation providing FDA the authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and sale of tobacco products is critically needed to protect the public health,” notes the letter, which goes on to point out the importance of this oversight in curtailing illegal sales of tobacco products to children and the marketing of a new generation of products under claims they are safer for public consumption. “This continued deception of consumers makes ever more urgent the need for FDA restrictions on advertising and marketing, especially to children,” says the letter.
The second letter also stresses the need for FDA regulation of tobacco products, but goes on to list the other top priorities of PARTNERS, including:
Recommendations of the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health's national action plan on cessation: PARTNERS is especially interested in seeing Congress support recommendations from this group that would adequately reimburse tobacco cessation treatments and services for Medicaid patients. The letter notes, for example, the majority of pregnant women who smoke are covered by Medicaid, and providing them with tobacco cessation would “improve the health of both mother and child, and decrease the number of low birth weight babies, pre-term deliveries, miscarriages and instances of sudden infant death syndrome and spontaneous abortions.”
Funding for the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Stepped up funding for this office is needed to support additional resources for youth tobacco prevention programs. The letter asks Congress for a minimum of $145 million in FY 2008 for this effort.
Internet tobacco sales: Action is critically needed on legislation aimed at curtailing the alarming growth of tobacco sales on the Internet, where low-cost and often tax free cigarettes are readily available on more than 500 web sites. “Congress should swiftly adopt comprehensive and enforceable Internet sales legislation in the first session of the 110th Congress,” says the letter.
Tobacco smuggling: Outdated laws governing tobacco smuggling need to be replaced, and the letter urges action on this matter early in the new Congress, noting, “Tobacco product smuggling undermines public health, robs states of much-needed revenue, and provides a potential source of revenue for organized crime and terrorists.”
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: The letter notes the United States has yet to ratify this international agreement, which is placing the country behind the eight ball in terms of global efforts to curtail the tobacco epidemic. “Administration spokespeople have asserted that the U.S. supports the treaty and wants to see it ratified, but so far the treaty has languished at the State Department and is ‘still under inter-agency review,’" cites the letter. “We call on Congress to request the President to immediately submit the tobacco treaty to the Senate for rapid ratification.”