Tom Harkin: “we have a chance today to address one of the most significant public health threats of our lifetimes--tobacco use. For…”

“we have a chance today to address one of the most significant public health threats of our lifetimes--tobacco use. For my entire tenure in Congress I have been working to protect our children from big tobacco and the horrendous health risks associated with the deadly habit. It was in 1977 that I first introduced legislation calling for repeal of the tax deductibility of tobacco advertising and marketing so taxpayers would not have to subsidize billions to promote smoking. Back in 1998, I introduced the KIDS Deserve Freedom Act to give FDA authority to regulate tobacco and more specifically set up a plan to cut the number of kids who start smoking in half. More recently, I introduced the HeLP America bill to reform our health care system to focus more on prevention and wellness. It would require tobacco companies to reduce teen smoking rates or instead face a stiff financial penalty. Unfortunately, victories in the tobacco wars have come few and far between. But I am more hopeful now than ever that we can pass a comprehensive plan that would once and for all change how this Nation deals with tobacco and dramatically cut the number of our kids addicted to this deadly product. More that 400,000 Americans die of tobacco related illness at a cost of over $100 billion. And the tobacco industry has been engaged in a systematic campaign of distortion and deceit to hook kids and hide the facts from the American people.”