Kay Bailey Hutchison: “Where we differ is, how do we achieve this result? Forty States have now filed lawsuits to engage the tobacco industry…”

“Where we differ is, how do we achieve this result? Forty States have now filed lawsuits to engage the tobacco industry in accepting the responsibility for its actions. Recent evidence demonstrates tobacco companies targeted children in their advertising, and the industry may have manipulated scientific research in its favor. This, obviously, is outrageous. We have a historic opportunity to limit youth smoking and to disclose all the information concerning the health risks of adult tobacco use. Four States have moved forward and reached settlements. My State is one of those. As a member of the Commerce Committee, which drafted the first version of the legislation before us, my principal concern was to ensure that nothing we did at the Federal level would undermine the agreements that have been reached by the individual States. I appreciate Senator McCain for his support of my amendments in the committee, most of which are in the bill before us, that would hold those States harmless. In my view, the most critical aspect of the Texas settlement and of the State attorneys general agreement that was reached with the industry was the restrictions on advertising and marketing that the industry accepted. These restrictions were tacit admission by the industry that its practice of marketing to teens was unacceptable. These restrictions are critical to our cause of reducing teen smoking.”