BILL TO PUT FDA SEAL OF APPROVAL ON TOBACCO PRODUCTS NO WAY TO WIN WAR ON TOBACCO, ENZI SAYS

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today said the decision to move forward on a bill to require the regulation of tobacco products by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is no way to win the war on tobacco. “Trying to make cigarettes safer through a billion-dollar bureaucracy is a waste of time and money,” Enzi said, following the HELP Committee’s announcement that the ‘Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act’ has been scheduled for mark up next week. “We must win the war on tobacco, not sign a peace treaty with Phillip Morris,” Enzi said. “The right approach is to get people to stop smoking, or better yet, to never start. Unfortunately, this bill just doesn’t do that. I believe we can do better.” The “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,” S.625, would gut the authority that Congress has bestowed and staunchly defended for the FDA – the authority to remove health threats from the marketplace, Enzi maintained. “Smoking kills. There is no such thing as a safe cigarette and there never will be. Moving forward with a bill to put an FDA seal of approval on a deadly product that has no health benefit is a folly that we should avoid.” “Every day, we hear about some new problem the Food and Drug Administration faces in protecting our health. From contaminated seafood to tainted toothpaste, this agency is in dire need of Congressional support to carry out its mission,” Enzi said “We should be focusing our efforts on increasing the number of inspectors, and on renewing the expiring drug and device user fee laws to help patients get the therapies and treatments they need.” ###