Nick Lampson: “we know that tobacco use is the most preventable cause of death, yet 400,000 Americans die each year from causes related…”

“we know that tobacco use is the most preventable cause of death, yet 400,000 Americans die each year from causes related to the use of tobacco. Our young people have grown up certain in the knowledge that tobacco causes cancer. Yet 3,000 American teenagers start smoking cigarettes every day. Hopefully the new FDA guidelines will help lower that number dramatically. I believe we need consistency in our policy toward tobacco. If we do not offer Federal crop insurance for commodities that are not a serious public health risk, why should we offer insurance for tobacco? Last year the taxpayers footed the bill for about $80 million in net tobacco insurance costs. At the same time, we spent almost 177 million trying to discourage tobacco use. Now we must ask the question, should we spend money to promote tobacco use or to discourage tobacco use? That is the fundamental issue that we are discussing right now. I do not believe the American people want us to continue having it both ways. After all the tough decisions we had in cutting spending, this is a simple one. It is time to stop giving special aid to tobacco. Instead of protecting the special interests, we must take the opportunity to help our families protect their children.”