Lautenberg, Longtime Senate Leader On Anti-Tobacco Efforts, Hails Passage Of Fda Tobacco Bill

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 14 Jun 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), a longtime Senate leader in the fight against Big Tobacco, today hailed the historic passage of the FDA tobacco bill. The bill would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate the sale and distribution of tobacco products, and prevent cigarette makers from targeting children in their advertising and marketing and making false claims to the public.

"This Congress and President Obama are determined to protect our kids from the dangers of smoking - and today's victory shows that," Sen. Lautenberg said. "For too long, Big Tobacco and their powerful lobbyists had free rein to hide the real dangers of tobacco and target our kids as the next generation of smokers. Today's victory was decades in the making, but we will not rest until this bill is signed into law."

Lautenberg Tobacco Record

- In 1987, Senator Lautenberg and then-Rep. Dick Durbin won passage of an amendment banning smoking on airline flights of 2 hours or less.

- In 1989, Senator Lautenberg won passage of an amendment banning smoking on airline flights of six hours or less. This covers approximately 99 percent of all domestic flights. Both of the airline smoking bans were adopted despite stiff opposition by the tobacco lobby. One amendment was filibustered and the Senate had to invoke cloture (over 60 votes).

- In 1994, Senator Lautenberg won passage of legislation to make all buildings that house Federally-funded children's programs smoke-free. This includes all public schools, Federally-funded day care centers and WIC programs. This finally became law after passing the Senate three times.

- In 1997, Senator Lautenberg introduced bipartisan legislation to require that tobacco companies disclose the ingredients and carcinogens in their products to the public and affix larger warning labels with more direct messages to kids.

- In 1999, Senator Lautenberg released Philip Morris documents showing that the company knew that Marlboro smokers who switched to Marlboro Light cigarettes actually inhaled more tar than they did smoking the Marlboros. This expose shined a light on the deceptive marketing of "Light" cigarettes.

- Sens. Lautenberg and Durbin successfully pushed for a complete indoor smoking ban (2008) and a ban on cigarette sales (2007) in all Senate office buildings.

- In November 2007, Sen. Lautenberg chaired a Senate Commerce Committee hearing exposing the inaccuracy of the FTC tar and nicotine cigarette rating system, and the marketing claims tobacco companies use based on these ratings. After years of pressure from Sen. Lautenberg , the FTC announced last November that tobacco companies are no longer allowed to use the outdated "FTC Method" of testing tar and nicotine levels as the basis for marketing claims of 'Light' and 'Low-Tar' cigarettes.

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Senator Frank R. Lautenberg