Jump to full article: Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, 2009-07-04
Author: James R. Carroll
Intro: With legislation to strengthen tobacco regulation now signed into law, public health groups are pushing for the Senate to ratify a treaty on tobacco control that has languished for five years.
Though the United States signed the treaty in May 2004, President George W. Bush never submitted it for approval by the Senate, the final step in the process.
The treaty requires a host of anti-smoking measures by the 164 signing nations. And it seeks to attack global issues such as cross-border advertising and tobacco smuggling.
Supporters say it is time for the Senate to act.
"There's no excuse, we really should," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said in an interview in the White House Rose Garden after President Barack Obama signed the new law that allows the federal Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products.
Opponents, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., believe American participation in the treaty is unnecessary. . . .
The global treaty threatens the future of tobacco growers in Kentucky and other states, as well as around the world, said Roger Quarles, president of the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association.
"It's basically a pathway to eradicate tobacco consumption and production throughout the entire world," said Quarles, who is also president of the International Tobacco Growers Association.
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