Duncan Faircloth: “I want to thank Senator Ford for introducing legislation regarding the regulation of tobacco. With respect to this very…”

“I want to thank Senator Ford for introducing legislation regarding the regulation of tobacco. With respect to this very controversial issue, let us set one thing straight--no one supports teen smoking. We need to do more to discourage youths from smoking. No one is opposed to reasonable legislation that would curb young people from smoking. That much is clear and everyone agrees on it. Also, the tobacco companies have pledged that they will do more to curb teen smoking. What is questionable is the notion of the FDA regulating tobacco as if it were a drug. This is a stretch by anyone's standards. President Clinton has said that the era of big government is over, and yet he has allowed the FDA to vastly increase its regulatory authority. Ask yourselves this question, should the Food and Drug Administration be regulating the color of race cars at NASCAR events? This is no-- absolutely no. What we need is a bill to address the problems of teen smoking, and one that protects small North Carolina farmers.”