we use in or on our 3w0eds and it controls the products your pets consume -- cat food, dog food, hamsters, whatever else. the f.d.a. has the power to regulate. but for 50 years the tobacco industry has successfully fought the ability to regulate tobacco products. and yet 3,000 to 4,000 kids start smoking every day in this country, 400,000 a year die as we heard from he sherrod brown. it is incredible we have had an opportunity that's gone basically unregulated. and of course the idea that you could put cherry-flavored and strawberry-flavored and cartoon figures -- that is not aimed at the 30 or 40-year-old tobacco user but aimed at children, the 3,000 or 4,000 that begin a day, 1,000, by the way, who become addicted and half that number die prematurely. there are people that smoke, i guarantee you, mr. president, there is not a smoark in the country who is an adult that wishes or hopes their child would begin smoking. in fact, i guarantee that almost virtually 100% of adult smokers have man wishes for their children and one wish, i guarantee they have, is that their children never start t

not only regulates the food that we humans consume, but also pets: cat food, dog food, bird food, hamsters. all those products have to be approved by the f.d.a. the one product that we have not been able to regulate because of opposition from the tobacco industry are tobacco products. we're about to change that. my hope is with a vote today and tomorrow and then agreement with the house, the president will be in a position to sign the legislation that will once and first give the food and drug administration the opportunity to regulate these products. and more importantly, or as importantly, to go and determine and set guidelines and regulations dealing the sale and marketing to young people. it's been said, i know, over and over again, maybe not often enough, 3,000 to 4,000 children begin every day smoking in america. every day that we delay having the f.d.a. take on this responsibility and begin controlling the marketing and sale of these products, we run the risk of more and more children starting the habit. and we know of that 3,000 to 4,000 that start smoking every day, 1,000 of them