Don Nickles: “as we move toward adjournment in the first session of the 105th Congress, I want to take a couple of minutes to look…”

“as we move toward adjournment in the first session of the 105th Congress, I want to take a couple of minutes to look ahead at one of the real big challenges that we have next year. That issue is tobacco and the so-called global tobacco deal that was agreed to earlier this year between the tobacco industry, States attorneys general, and health advocates. Madam President, we have seen a significant sea change in our culture's attitudes toward smoking in the last 30 years. The proportion of adult smokers peaked at 43 percent in 1966 and has dropped dramatically since then to about 25 percent today. According to the Federal Trade Commission, demand for cigarettes is forecast to continue to decline about 0.6 percent a year for the foreseeable future. However, as adult use has declined, concern has grown about the number of underage smokers who every day try their first cigarette. Madam President, 4.5 million kids ages 12 to 17 are current smokers, according to the Department of Health and Human Services; 29 percent of males age 12 to 21, and 26 percent of females in the same age group currently smoke, according to reports of the National Center for Health Statistics. In 1994, the Surgeon General's report found that 9 out of 10 Americans who currently smoke say they began smoking as teenagers. Many Americans share a common goal to reduce teen smoking dramatically to break the cycle of smoking as we enter into the 21st century.”