James V. Hansen: “I rise in support of the amendment. Mr. Chairman, we may recall that when the Manhattan project came along, something we…”

“I rise in support of the amendment. Mr. Chairman, we may recall that when the Manhattan project came along, something we all get nervous about, and atomic bombs and things such as that, we found ourselves in a situation where we were horrified yet glad it was over, when we saw a mushroom cloud kill 350,000 people. They were evaporated, just like that, all of them gone. Now here in America it does not seem to bother us when we do it one at a time, but basically we do it in another puff of smoke, 350,000 people die a year, up in smoke, on the same theme. We call this one Joe Camel, Marlboro country, things such as that. If tobacco was discovered in 1993 and went before the FDA, there is no way on Earth they would approve it, because it is an addictive drug. It is harder to stop from tobacco, some people say, than from cocaine. The FDA made a statement like this. They said, The current evidence suggests that nicotine, when delivered by cigarettes, produces psychological dependence resulting in withdrawal symptoms when smokers are deprived of nicotine. Other data suggests that the comparable percentage of smokers are in fact addicted, and addicted forever. Here we go on, and the majority of our children start before they are 14 years old.”