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• Statement of Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act on the vote to Invoke Cloture 

This long-overdue grant of authority to FDA to regulate tobacco products means that the agency can finally take the actions needed to protect our people from the most deadly of all consumer products.

Passage of this legislation is much more than a victory for those who have championed this cause for so long. It is a life-saving act for the millions of Americans, especially the young, who will be spared a lifetime of addiction and premature death. . . .

The FDA conducted the longest rulemaking proceeding in its history, studying which regulations would most effectively reduce the number of children who smoke. Seven hundred thousand public comments were received in the course of that rulemaking. At the conclusion of its proceeding, the Agency promulgated rules on the manner in which cigarettes are advertised and sold. Due to litigation, most of those regulations were never implemented. If we are serious about curbing youth smoking as much as possible, as soon as possible; it makes no sense to require FDA to reinvent the wheel by conducting a new multi-year rulemaking process on the same issues. This legislation will give the youth access and advertising restrictions already developed by FDA the force of law, as if they had been issued under the new statute. Once they are in place, FDA will have the authority to modify these rules as changing circumstances warrant.

The legislation also provides for stronger warnings on all cigarette and smokeless tobacco packages, and in all print advertisements. These warnings will be larger and more explicit in their description of the medical problems which can result from tobacco use. Each cigarette pack will carry a graphic depiction of the consequences of smoking. The FDA is given the authority to change the warning labels periodically, to keep their impact strong.

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