back to the table because what we have done is we have locked down the marketplace. you have given a big check mark to philip morris and say that your market share is ok. and that when you lock down the marketplace and we then stifle innovation and we do not have competition in that marketplace we truly don't have the ability then for these companies to track at-risk capital to make investments in harm reduction -- in a harm reduction strategy whereby we can migrate people down the continuum of risk. so what we're going to have to do is if this bill becomes law we have some real challenges in front of us. one is how do we stand up this new mission within f.d.a., an agency that is already very stressed and underresourced and we're already are going to be addressing issues in the committee regarding food safety

and drug safety while we pile on more missions. . i would say to my good friend as soon as this bill is signed into law a couple things are going to happen. number one, the lawyers will make a run to the federal courts and the supreme court will be back sitting in judgment over the provisions on advertising restrictions, not only violation -- potential unconstitutional provisions on the first amendment with regard to the regulation of commerce speech, but also in the fifth amendment with regard to whether it's a constitutional taking or not. so while that is going on, i will introduce legislation, i'll work with ms. harman, i'll work with others, i'll work with the chairman on how we can best incorporate this harm reduction strategy to truly improve public health, because i, madam speaker, i embrace the sincerity of mr. waxman and mr. kennedy that they truly want to improve public health in the country. but this legislation when we lock ourselves down to only

what is presently available and that these nicotine replacement therapies only have a 7% success rate, i don't believe anyone here would endorse a 7% success rate as a good thing. it's failure. so we are going to have to go back to the drawing board here and figure out how we do a harm reduction strategy to improve public health. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana reserves his time of the the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: i want to inform my colleagues that there is a section in this bill that gives the f.d.a. authority to develop harm reduction strategies. i think that's where it ought to be, in the hands of people who will follow the science in order to protect the public health. i want to yield at this time to the chairman of our health subcommittee on the energy and commerce committee who has been a staunch supporter of this legislation and has looked after all the health matters that come before the congress,

the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i want to thank chairman waxman for his tireless work on this tobacco legislation. today is long overdue and he should be so proud of his -- the fact that this is finally passing today and going to the president's desk. as we pursue serious and historical health care reform, this legislation comes at the right time. smoking kills. smoking also is a major cause of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and a host of other illnesses. almost half a million americans die from their own cigarette smoking a year, and even more alarming, studies have estimated that more than six million children alive today will ultimately die from smoking. when president obama's call for health care reform, he cited the need to use our resources wisely and efficiently. tobacco is a health care issue that taxes and burdens our health care system. the cost of private and pub lick payers are over $96

billion annually. regulating tobacco productses is a win-win for our nation's health and our need to be fiscally responsible in a time economic hardship. this bill will finally give the f.d.a. authority to regulate tobacco products, restrict tobacco marketing, especially the techniques designed to entice and addict our children. they are vulnerable and impressionable and the tobacco industry exploits that. i was proud to be an original co-sponsor of this bill in the house and even prouder to vote for it today. i know it is long overdue. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from indiana. mr. buyer: i yield myself 30 seconds. to respond to my good friend, mr. waxman, madam chair, that to say that it's best -- harm reduction strategies are best left to the f.d.a. gives me great concern. if you truly believe that, then you should have never set a two-tier standard and build a paradigm in which they are to make judgments, if you truly believe they are the ones who

should have designed the strategies to improve public health. i would be more than happy to work with the gentleman to repeal the two-tiered standard if we are going to let them set the standard based on sound science to improve public health. i now yield to the gentleman, two minutes, to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. platts. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. platts: i appreciate the gentleman yielding and especially given that we have different views on this piece of of legislation, him yielding time to me. madam speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 1256, the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act. i appreciate the senate's swift consideration of this bill after many years of consideration, i'm pleased this important public health legislation will final finally be signed into law. as one of the deadliest products on the market, tobacco should be subject to the same serious regulation oversight as most other products consumed by americans are subject to. this helps ensure americans are fully aware of the harmful effects posed by tobacco

products. most importantly this legislation will ensure that tobacco products are not advertised to or sold to children. addiction to tobacco begins almost universally in childhood and adolescence. tobacco companies have long taken advantage of this vulnerability by promoting their products through such tactics as cartoon advertisements, free tobacco themed merchandise that appeals to kids, and sponsorship of sporting and entertainment events. with health care costs spiraling out of control every year, the costs of treating these smokers later in life is fast becoming prohibitively expensive. prohibiting advertising to children will go a long way in preventing young people in america from starting to smoke and will save billions of dollars and most importantly countless lives in the years to come. it is important to emphasize that this bill does not ban tobacco products. rather h.r. 1256 allows the f.d.a. to scientifically evaluate the health benefits and risks posed by ingredients in cigarettes and takes steps

to reduce the harm caused by tobacco products. this legislation preserves an adult's choice to smoke and make sure that tobacco products marketed as safe alternatives to cigarettes are in fact scientifically safer. i'm pleased to have worked with my colleague, the distinguished chairman of the house energy and commerce committee, henry waxman, the gentleman from california, on this legislation, commend him for his leadership on this issue as well as former congressman tom davis. i yield back and encourage a yes vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from indiana. mr. buyer: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. buyer: it is nicotine that causes the consumption of tobacco. so i understand how truly, in my words, outraged then chairman waxman was and still is with regard to testimony that occurred years ago when he

was the chairman of the subcommittee on health. now, if it's the -- strike the word tobacco, if it's the nicotine for which adult users receive their satisfaction, the real issue is how do they gain access to nicotine in a manner that reduces their health risk? that's the issue. that's my passion. i am not a smoker. i don't advocate for people to smoke. my charge and challenge is how do we improve public health in our country? and i don't want this abstinence only approach. so if it's nicotine for which people want to gain access to and it's an adult product, then shouldn't we be trying to figure out methods or products where people can gain access to

nicotine that is less harmful? during the debate on the rule, madam speaker, i would share to my colleague, chairman waxman, an individual brought up a head of of lettuce and said that a head of lettuce is more regulation on a head of lettuce than tobacco. and i guess it was effort to be cute, but the real point here is what i shared, madam speaker, to my friend, mr. waxman, you could have smoked that lettuce and you still end up with the same problems. you can cut the grass in your yard, dry it, and roll it up in a cigarette and smoke it and you're still going to have a lot of problems. it is the smoke that kills. not the nicotine. it's the smoke. so when you look at it, you say well if the smoke is the killer because of the inhalation of the tobacco smoke, that's responsible for the pandemic of

cancers, heart disease, respiratory disease, and these deadly results. so i'm going back to this harm reduction. so despite decades of intense efforts to eradicate smoking, more than 40 million adults continue to smoke cigarettes. and they are likely to continue because we don't have this ability to migrate them to other products. it's extremely important when we talk about a harm reduction strategy that it -- not only is the access to a particular product, it is the education of the people at large as to what type of products they could avail themselves to that have less harmful health results. that should be our goal. and that's -- that has been embraced. the american association of public health physicians noted last year that, quote, enhancement of current policies based on the premise that all tobacco products are equally

risky will yield only small and barely measurable reductions of tobacco related illness and death. end quote. so there is -- in the public debate there is this presumption that all tobacco products are harmful. well, all tobacco product vs. a degree of health hazards, but some are more harmful than others. so cigar and pipe are not subject, yet they are the -- some of this legislation, yet they are the most harmfulle to the human body. of all of the carcinogens that can be inhad a lated. -- inhalation -- inhalated. how can we migrate people, that's what's extremely important, and let's stop this premise that all tobacco products are equally risky. that swedish snuse even though it's 98% less harmful than an

unfiltered cigarette, should not be treated as though they are both just as harmful. they are not. if you're able to pasturize and reduce -- take away the nitrocimines, you know what, that ought to be something we should talk about and promote. the reason that, madam speaker, if we just turn this over to f.d.a. like chairman waxman has recently just suggested and let them come up with these strategies, it's not going to be able to get into the hands of the american people because of the two-tiered standard that has been set in this legislation. i reclaim my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to my esteemed colleague from the state of minnesota, mr. oberstar. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for tea minutes -- three minutes. mr. oberstar: i thank my friend for yielding, my friend and colleague of 34 years ago we entered the congress together.

i do not propose to read this entire document, but it is the report of the hearings and committee report conducted by my predecessor in congress, john blot nick -- blotnick in 1957 on false and misleading advertising among a number of products and the failure of the federal trade commission to intervene on behalf of the public. the meeting testimony on false and misleading advertising and filtered dipped cigarettes was a statement of dr. kyler hammond, director of statistical research for the american cancer society. we found lung cancer death rates to be extremely low among nonsmokers and high among heavy cigarette smokers.

2,665 excess deaths, this was 1957, among smokers. the conclusion, dr. hammond, the sum total of scientific evidence establishes beyond reasonable doubt that cigarette smoke something a causative factor in the rapidly increasing incidents of human epidemic carcinoma of the lung. 52 years ago. we still have people in this chamber and in the other body saying, it's not a problem. the report of the committee goes on to say, pyrobenzene is one of the substances containing carcinogenic agents. known cancer producing agent has been found in the smoke from cigarette paper and an amount from the tobacco alone. this component is known as three-four pyrobenzene.

the report of the committee concludes that cigarette manufacturers have deceived the american public through their advertising of filtered tipped cigarettes. ironically while denying the alleged health hazards of cigarette smoke, the industry has in its advertising made these charges appear true. . filter gives you more what is a filter is through, smokey white, pure, miracle tip. 25,000 filter traps gives you more what you changed to a filter four. the committee concludes the federal trade commission has failed to approach the problem of failed and misleading advertisement. they failed then 52 years ago. they failed us today. it is way long past time. many millions of deaths later

for this congress to act, act decisively in the public interest. and also a tribute to my predecessor, john blatnik, who led this charge 32 years ago. and he led his subcommittee for having rung the bill on false and misleading advertising by the cigarette companies. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: madam speaker, i'm pleased at this time to yield to one of the people for whom this bill would not even be possible and that is the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, who has been such a strong leader for advancing the public health. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one minute. the speaker: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for his generous recognition and rise

to say as a mother and grandmotr how important it is. to say thank you to john dingell, one of the giants of the congress, have worked to help the children of america. mr. dingell, mr. waxman, mr. pallone on the committee and on the senate side, this legislation passing is a real tribute also to the leadership of senator ted kennedy. it's really a great day. it's moment us, it's historic. we can't say that all the time about the legislation that we pass here. we certainly -- it would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of what is happening here today. today we have an opportunity to protect public health and prevent disease, and today we have an opportunity to honor our responsibility to our children to protect them from the harm that can come to them from the use of tobacco. madam speaker, tobacco was the

number one cause of preventable deaths in the united states. according to the centers for disease control, it is responsible for about one in five or 443 deaths annually. again, i want to acknowledge the great work of chairman waxman and chairman dingell and chairman pallone. we passed this bill before easter. hopefully it will pass the senate so we can now pass the bill and send it to the president's desk for his signature. mr. oberstar in his role in transportation and understanding how we had to get smoking out of transportation spelled out for us what the study told us and how it's 52 years since we should have taken action. there's so much support on the outside of the congress as well. 1,000 organizations. everyone from the american

cancer society, which we would expect, the campaign for tobacco-free kids, the aarp and the presbyterian church, just to name a few. they believe that passing this bill will save lives. today, americans benefit from the oversight of the f.d.a. on food what we eat and medicines that we take. that's their jurisdiction. the fact that tobacco is one of the deadliest products in america, the f.d.a. has had no authority to regulate it. this is just not right. and today we can correct that wrong. right now tobacco is exempt from standards that apply to a can of soda or a box of pasta. tobacco makers are exempt from the critical and basic consumer protections such as ingredient disclosure, product testing and restrictions, and restrictions

on marketing to children. this legislation gas the f.d.a. the authority to regulate tobacco products. it also requires detailed disclosures of tobacco products' ingredients and restricts tobacco marketing and sales to young people, among other things. and this legislation does all of this in a fiscally responsible way. funding the f.d.a. tobacco activity through a user fee on tobacco manufacturers. because of loss productivity and health care expenditures, cigarette smoking cost our nation more than $193 billion a year. almost $200 billion a year. by reducing the number of smokers, not only will this legislation save lives and reduce chronic disease, it will also reduce health care cost. today, approximately 3,500 young people will try a cigarette for the first time.

3,500. and another 1,000 will become addicted and be new regular daily smokers. one third of those children will eventually die prema turrill because of smoke -- prematurely because of smoking. we must do all we can to prevent premature death from smoking. and today we have that opportunity. madam speaker, i urge all of my colleagues to support the aptly name family smoking prevention and tobacco control act. i hoped that the children of american will see a strong bipartisan vote. this legislation deserves it and then we can send it on to the president to be signed into law hopefully no later than next week. again, mr. dingell, as a mother and a grandmother, i'm deeply in your debt for what you're doing for america's children. mr. waxman, thank you so much for bringing this bill to the floor. we went into session in january

before easter this bill had passed the house. thank you for your leadership. and mr. pallone was very much a part of it. again, mr. oberstar, thank you for your leadership. but let's say to senator kennedy. this has been part of his life's work. he's worked on this for a very long time. of itself the tobacco and smoking issue and then just as with mr. dingell the larger health issue for america. today in passing this legislation, letting -- enabling the f.d.a. to regulate tobacco we are taking a giant step forward in making america healthier. thank you all for your leadership. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from indiana. mr. buyer: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. buyer: it is with great disappointment that i hear the words of the speaker because she is in truly endorsing a 7% success rate as an acceptable

level of success for those trying to quit smoking. also, if we really wanted to help children, then she should have endorsed what i sought to do and that is put tobacco on equal plane as alcohol as illegal to possess. but we're not doing that today. i also said onto the states that the states with regard to d required by the m.s.a., the states are not spending the money they should. they're only spending 3.2% of their tobacco fees on cessation programs. in the current fiscal year no state is funding tobacco prevention programs at levels recommended by the c.d.c. so i had offered an opportunity here to the body to strengthen and truly protect children. yet it was not adopted by this body. so be very careful about coming to the floor and saying we're doing it for the children when in fact the opportunity was there and you did not. i yield right now three minutes to the gentleman from texas.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding and i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> i don't think we can argue about the intentions of this proposal of this bill. there's no question that cigarettes are very, very harmful. the question for me here is the process. and i find the process here atrocious because it assumes that author tarianism is right -- authoritarianism is right and proper and education and self-reliance and depending on one's self to take care of one's self is a proper approach. we total reject our free society and assume that if we just have tobacco police roaming the country that all of a sudden bad habits are going to be cleared up. we're dealing with bad habits and these are bad for health.

but let me tell you, i can bring you laste here of dozens -- a list here of dozens and dozens of things that lead to death. as a matter of fact, one of the things we ought to consider is, you know, how many people die from our drug war? we have a drug war because about 3,000 people die from the use of illegal drugs. we have a drug war going on. and tens of thousands of people die. it's so exs aer -- exacerbating at times. for decades, what did we do? we subsidized tobacco. and nowe want to prohibit tobacco. why don't we just let the people decide? this whole idea that you either have to subsidize something or prohibit something shows a shallowness that i think that we ought to challenge. one part of this bill that i find particularly bad but it is

pervasive in so much of what we do. about 100 years ago we took the first amendment and the freedom of speech and chopped it into two pieces. we have political speech. of course, we like that. we're in the business of politics. and we have commercial speech and we put it over here. and we regulate the heck out of commercial speech. that's not a first amendment. that's chopping freedom in half. and that just leads to more problems. but this is -- will lead to prohibition. and it won't work. and this will just give us a lot more trouble. you say, well, how will these problems be handled if we just permit people to advertise? well, you're not allowed to commit fraud, you're not allowed to commit slander. you're not allowed to commit any libel or slander or fraud. this approach can't work. it is assumed that people are total idiots, that they won't respond to education, that we have to be the nanny state, we want to expand the war on drugs

which is a total failure. and look at what happened to prohibition of alcohol. you say, oh, no, this is not prohibition. it is going to be prohibition. it is a form of prohibition. if you have a form of prohibition or approach prohibition, what do you create? you create the black market. we will see the black market come. already the taxes are opening up the doors of the black market. all i ask for is people to reconsider, believe that freedom and self-reliance and individualism can solve these problems a lot better than a bunch of politicses and -- politicians and bureaucrats in washington, d.c. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from indiana. mr. buyer: i yield myself 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. buyer: i would say that the gentleman and i are not in total agreement. it would -- i sought to regulate tobacco. i know you didn't gret with my

substitute but i believe in the regulation of tobacco. i sought to do that, i just don't believe it should be done in f.d.a. and we tried to create a harm reduction center to do that. but i respect the gentleman -- the gentleman's views. i yield back -- i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: madam speaker,'m pleased at this time to yield three minutes to the very distinguished chairman emeritus of the energy and commerce committee who's played an essential role in fighting against tobacco and getting us to this day today, mr. dingell for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for three minutes. mr. dingell: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. dingell: i thank my good friend and colleague, the chairman of the committee, mr. waxman, and commend him for his leadership on this matter. i'm also delighted that we have this bill to the floor today. i urge my colleagues to support the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act. and i would point out that we will be shortly following it up

with legislation to protect americans from dangerous foods and to give the food and drug administration the authority and money in which it needs. that will be followed by additional legislation to address the question of pharmaceuticals. i urge my colleagues to recognize that this not only does what needs doing but it also gives to the food and drug authority the authority and the money which it needs and the personnel which it needs to carry over its mission as it goes about its business. i would point out for too long we have starved them for both authority, resources and personnel. it is time something be done about this. i am not going to give you an argument about this situation. and that will be in my written remarks extended, but i want to tell my colleagues that the graveyards are full of people who occupy those places