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Whitfield Protests Canadian Promotion of Ban on Burley Tobacco 

U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (KY-01) continued his efforts this week to shield Kentucky tobacco farmers from the consequences of a new Canadian initiative which would effectively result in a ban on U.S. burley tobacco. The Congressman spearheaded a letter, along with four other Kentucky Members of the House of Representatives, to the Prime Minister of Canada asking that their government stop encouraging other nations to implement similar laws which could have a devastating impact on tobacco farmers in the United States.

"A worldwide ban on burley tobacco imports would be a crippling blow to Kentucky tobacco farmers and wreak havoc in several rural economies throughout the Commonwealth," Whitfield said. "For the Canadian government to be advocating a reckless policy which endangers a critical Kentucky industry is simply unacceptable, especially considering they don't yet know the ramifications of their own new law. I join my Kentucky colleagues in calling on Health Canada to stop encouraging other nations to adopt similar policies and look for ways to revise their own law so that American tobacco growers are not unfairly hurt."

Whitfield, along with Congressman Hal Rogers (KY-05), Congressman Ben Chandler (KY-06), Congressman Geoff Davis (KY-04) and Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday asking that Health Canada, the Canadian health department, stop lobbying other nations to adopt a law similar to their own which has effectively resulted in a ban on American air-cured burley tobacco.

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