Robert Torricelli: “anyone who has been listening to this debate on the Senate floor in the last few weeks is now familiar with the painful…”

“anyone who has been listening to this debate on the Senate floor in the last few weeks is now familiar with the painful but very real statistics. Each day, 3,000 young Americans begin smoking and eventually 1,000 will die. I can think of no issue on the floor of this Congress which could more directly affect the lives of Americans for a generation to come to finally deal with the reality of tobacco and its assorted dangers. Legislation offered by Senator McCain, which I enthusiastically support, makes a contribution in several important ways to dealing with this problem: First, it requires a warning label and restricts advertising designed to attract children to smoking cigarettes; second, it grants broad authority to the Federal Drug and Food Administration to regulate tobacco products, their advertising, and their distribution; third, it establishes a national tobacco trust fund for smoke cessation programs, health research, and compensation for States and farmers as a result of tobacco smoking and the program; and, finally, it also penalizes companies up to $3.5 billion per year if they fail to meet their targets to reduce youth smoking.”