It's so hard to go back to business as usual, to look beyond terrorist attacks
and the anthrax scare. Because they are very real and although they do not directly
impact most Americans, we know they could. But there are other issues which
we must not lose sight of in the midst of it all, and one of them is the impact
of tobacco on our children and children around the world. It is a very real
threat and we can do something about it.
According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, every day 3,000 children in
the United States become smokers and one third of these children will eventually
die from smoking-related illnesses. When you put that in perspective, 5,000
were killed in the World Trade Center attacks. But we're talking about 1,000
children every day, 365 days per year, who eventually will die because they
started smoking cigarettes when they were young.
Indeed, most smokers begin smoking before age 18, when buying cigarettes is
legal in the U.S. Some 60 percent begin before their 14th birthday. Even as
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did
not have the authority to regulate tobacco products last year, they also wrote
in their ruling that "tobacco use, particularly among children and adolescents,
poses perhaps the single most significant threat to public health in the United
States."
The Supreme Court ruling simply means that the Congress must grant the FDA authority
to regulate tobacco products, just as it has granted it the authority to regulate
our food and drugs.
Senators Tom Harkin, Lincoln Chafee and Bob Graham have introduced S.247 in
the Senate. This bill is supported by public health advocates, including the
American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Lung Association,
and would allow the FDA to restrict marketing to children, reduce or eliminate
harmful components found in tobacco products and, require independent scientific
testing of products. Two similar bills, H.R.1097 and 1043, have been introduced
in the House of Representatives by Representatives Ganske, Dingell and Waxman.
Not surprisingly, the tobacco industry, which has invested millions of dollars
($26.7 million from 1995-2000) in federal political campaigns, is fighting these
bills.
President Bush, who during his campaign did say he supported working on preventing
children from smoking, has not said much since his election about it. Attorney
General Ashcroft has said he is reviewing the lawsuit and has not decided yet
how to proceed.
But just as troubling as our reluctance to give the FDA authority to regulate
the tobacco industry, particularly how it markets to our children, is our willingness
to turn our backs on the health implications that increased tobacco usage has
for the poor countries of the world, many of whom are now being targeted for
increasing marketing by the tobacco industry. Outside the U.S., cigarette companies
sell their products by equating them with American wealth and glamour. In Africa,
in Asia, in Latin America, all places with very limited dollars for public health,
children are being targeted for marketing of cigarettes. In Eastern Europe,
free Marlboros are handed out to teens at rock concerts; in Taipei, free packs
of Salems are on tables in discos. In Buenos Aires, a woman wearing safari gear
and driving a jeep with the Camel logo hands out free cigarettes to teens during
their lunch recess. In Kenya, the smoking rate has jumped dramatically, and
in Hong Kong, children as young as seven are smoking.
The World Health Organization (WHO) now predicts that by 2030, ten million people
around the world will have died from smoking-related diseases and causes. That
means close to one out of every two long-term smokers will die from smoking-related
diseases. WHO also says that by the year 2030, only 15 percent of the world's
smokers will live in developed countries.
We can no longer keep our heads in the sand about what is happening to our children
and to children around the world. We can do something about this. We can speak
out. We can talk to our own children about smoking. We can find a way to stop
smoking ourselves. And we can talk to our Senators and Congresspersons about
the legislation giving the FDA authority to regulate the tobacco industry.