Greg Ganske: “As a physician on this Floor, I have been asked many medical questions related to diseases caused by tobacco that is…”

“As a physician on this Floor, I have been asked many medical questions related to diseases caused by tobacco that is affecting members and their families. Tobacco is an addicting substance that causes lethal disease. It certainly has not spared our colleagues or their families. Big tobacco is trying to stymie a Federal lawsuit that seeks to recover costs of treatment of the tobacco-related diseases that the Federal taxpayers have subsidized. This includes the care of Members of Congress and their families, as well as other Federal employees, veterans, and Medicare beneficiaries. The VA spends $4 billion annually on treatment of tobacco-related illness. Medicare spends $20.5 billion per year on tobacco-related illnesses. Big tobacco has known about the addictive lethal consequences of tobacco for a long time. Their CEOs committed perjury in testimony before Congress. Did those CEOs get punished for lying under oath? We did not even give them a slap on the wrist, and their deceitful lives have cost lives.”