Today's passage of the
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act by the Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) is truly historic. This
legislation will give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority
it needs to regulate the products responsible for more than 438,000 deaths
each year.
The American Lung Association thanks Chairman Ted Kennedy for his long
commitment to protecting public health and for his leadership moving this
legislation forward. Senators Kennedy, Bingaman, Brown, Clinton, Dodd,
Gregg, Harkin, Mikulski, Murkowski, Murray, Obama, Reed and Sanders are
commended for their vote to support this life saving bill.
With a strong, bipartisan majority of Senators cosponsoring the bill,
Majority Leader Reid must schedule prompt floor action on this legislation.
The HELP Committee action sends a strong signal to House Energy and
Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell to complete his consideration on
the legislation and move it forward.
American Lung Association
American Lung Association