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Talks on Capitol Hill to Regulate Tobacco Industry Break Down
Smoke Club Newsletter ^ | 10-2-03 | By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos.

Posted on 10/03/2003 10:06:10 AM PDT by SheLion

Talks in Congress to regulate the tobacco industry broke down Wednesday along partisan lines, making it highly unlikely that new restrictions would be imposed on the cigarette industry anytime soon.

Lawmakers had been close to passing legislation that not only would have ended unpopular tobacco subsidies, but also would have allowed government control over tobacco products for the first time.

But Democrats said late Wednesday that regulations that would have handed the Food and Drug Administration (search) oversight of cigarettes were not strong enough.

"Unfortunately, the proposed legislation which Republicans put forth today falls far short of the strong FDA authority which is needed to effectively do the job," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the leading Democrat on the health committee. "A weak bill is worse than no bill at all because it would give the public a false impression that their health was being protected."

The House and Senate had been close to voting on bills that would have ended Depression-era tobacco farm subsidies that lawmakers have described as archaic and harmful to the farming communities in several states that grow tobacco.

Farming quotas -- which dictate how much tobacco a farmer can grow and the subsidies given in return -- have been slashed by 50 percent over the last several years due to the decline in demand for cigarettes and foreign competition on the international market.

Paid for by a five-year annual assessment on manufacturers that import tobacco, the buyout would pay for both farmers leaving the tobacco business and those choosing to continue growing the crop on their own.

"The tobacco support system is "outmoded and not practical anymore," Rep. Mike McIntyre, R-D-N.C., told Foxnews.com, explaining that the government began controlling the production of tobacco farming in the 1930s to ensure stable payments to farmers for their crops.

"You can imagine what would happen if your income were cut in half," said Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., whose district has been devastated by the declining tobacco industry. "And they still don’t know if it can be cut further."

McIntyre joined Rep. Ernie Fletcher, R-Ky., Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., and Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., in introducing a bill last month to end the subsidies with a $15.7 billion buyout.

While the House had not planned to include FDA legislation in the bill, Sens. Judd Gregg (search), R-N.H., the chairman of the Senate health panel considering the legislation, and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, had agreed to marry the FDA authority to a bill proposed by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that would have allowed a $13 billion buyout.

Calling the FDA proposal a "bitter pill for this senator to swallow," McConnell said in a recent floor speech that support from the senators and the health community behind FDA regulation would be necessary to end the subsidies once and for all.

"That is simply a reality which we confront today," he said, noting that linking the two measures together would create "a formidable coalition here in the Senate across an ideological divide to move us in the direction of achieving both these goals."

House aides had said that similar FDA legislation would likely have remained in final legislation written when negotiators from both chambers met in conference. That way, the bill would have had a better chance of passing in the House, but would also have satisfied lawmakers who wish to see greater regulation of tobacco products.

But when Senate Democrats saw Gregg's final proposal, they said that the provision that allowed only Congress to ban cigarettes was so vaguely written it could have prevented the FDA from requiring changes to make cigarettes safer.

"The vague language was a loophole that could prevent FDA from taking any steps to reduce the harm caused by tobacco," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

"We’re not willing to support FDA regulations that are too weak," said Allison Dobson, spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, before the final legislation was offered. "I think there are a lot of senators who feel strongly that this shouldn’t be a sham."

Mark Berlind, a lawyer for Philip Morris parent company Altria, rejected the criticisms. He said health groups wanted the FDA to be able to ban tobacco products, something that was in a previous bill sponsored by Kennedy.

"We're disappointed that these talks broke down over a last-minute insistence that FDA be able to ban all cigarettes for adults," Berlind said.

Jacob Sullum, editor of Reason magazine, added that the public health lobby is "never satisfied." He said that he thinks the latest attempt to regulate tobacco is just another boondoggle for government.

"This is more than [the public health lobby] dreamed of years ago, but they are still not happy," Sullum said, referring to the 1998 tobacco settlement with the states in which the cigarette makers were forced to pay hundreds of billions of dollars for state programs as well as comply with new marketing and promotion standards.

Other areas of disagreement include how far states should be able to go in setting their own restrictions on the industry and whether tobacco companies can be sued for failing to adequately warn people about smoking hazards.

This latest effort by lawmakers to regulate the tobacco industry was the most serious in years. Whereas a buyout of tobacco-growers was an unpopular suggestion five years ago, it had recently been embraced by farmers and lawmakers alike as the only solution to their ongoing financial woes.

Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker and a major campaign contributor, had also recently reversed its previous position and endorsed FDA regulation, even though would be getting hit twice in the pocketbook -- once for the buyout, another with the oversight fees.

Smaller companies like R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., say they will be financially ruined by both the buyout and the oversight measures.

Smaller cigarette makers will likely be squeezed by the new rules, said Sullum, who added, "The cost will be passed on to consumers."

But lawmakers say the move was necessary to help the ailing farming community as well as provide regulations aimed to protect the public health.

The FDA asserted authority over cigarettes in 1996, but the Supreme Court later ruled that only Congress can give the FDA that power.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: antismokers; bans; butts; cigarettes; individualliberty; michaeldobbs; niconazis; prohibitionists; pufflist; smokingbans; taxes; tobacco; wodlist
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1 posted on 10/03/2003 10:06:12 AM PDT by SheLion
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To: SheLion
Puff
2 posted on 10/03/2003 10:07:26 AM PDT by SheLion (Curiosity killed the cat BUT satisfaction brought her back!!!)
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To: All
We Replaced Patrick Leahy's Brains With Folger's Crystals. Let's See If Anyone Notices!

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3 posted on 10/03/2003 10:09:44 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: SheLion
Good!
4 posted on 10/03/2003 10:12:16 AM PDT by talleyman (Caviar emptor (a warning from the sturgeon general): Individual results may vary.)
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To: *all
So take THAT Phillip MORRIS............JERKS!

Proposed Regulation over the year

5 posted on 10/03/2003 10:12:25 AM PDT by SheLion (Curiosity killed the cat BUT satisfaction brought her back!!!)
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To: SheLion
Fat Ted is a leading Democrat on the Health Committee? Words fail me!!!!!!

I wonder how he feels about the health of the late Mary Jo Kopechne?
6 posted on 10/03/2003 10:14:54 AM PDT by Mears
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To: SheLion; *puff_list
So the jist of this is they did the right thing for the wrong reasons.
7 posted on 10/03/2003 10:21:00 AM PDT by qam1 (Don't Patikify New Jersey)
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To: SheLion
Horray!
8 posted on 10/03/2003 10:50:44 AM PDT by NeoCaveman (waiting for the next October surprise)
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To: SheLion; Constitution Day; Howlin; azhenfud; mykdsmom
Smaller companies like R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., say they will be financially ruined by both the buyout and the oversight measures.

Oh well, our Senator Giddy doesn't care. What's 2600 more jobs lost here in the last week.

But when Senate Democrats saw Gregg's final proposal, they said that the provision that allowed only Congress to ban cigarettes was so vaguely written it could have prevented the FDA from requiring changes to make cigarettes safer.

I can't believe this is even an issue. To put this power in the hands of some of biggest nanny government officials, Elizabeth Dole included, is practically insane. She signed on to end government subsidies, which severely affected RJR enough for them to cut jobs, knowing that this bill was a possibility? I guess you were right az, we're going to all have jobs standing on the roadside checking seatbelts

NC ping. The effects of electing a CINO to represent us are coming home to roost ping. Go, Giddy, go!!

9 posted on 10/03/2003 10:58:20 AM PDT by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: billbears
"..we're going to all have jobs standing on the roadside checking seatbelts..."

Yeah,...and being paid $1.50/hr just like our industrial equiv's in China. But government is working to "cover" all those "extras", don't you know...

10 posted on 10/03/2003 11:09:08 AM PDT by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
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To: SheLion
One thing says it all: $
11 posted on 10/03/2003 11:10:56 AM PDT by Redwood71
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To: billbears
I'm anxiously waiting on RJR to tell Dole, the Sinate, the Feds, and the whole nine yards to kiss old rusty and then refuse to sell one bit of tobacco outside NC esp to those quick-suit states, and if the NC gov won't protect the industry, then move to Pakistan or someplace that will appreciate the revenue their industry produces.

The Feds ought to either ban tobacco altogether or leave it ALONE. I don't smoke, but the attacks on tobacco are getting mighty old already.

Personally, I'd give NC legislators the choice; protect the industry with allowing export/import like I'd suggested before or I'd close the whole thing down and let all their budgets flop. RJR can afford to move its tobacco production to any other country, build a crop and market back to the US cheaper than accomodating the idiot lawyers we call "represenatives" in the Dunce City of Washington.

Washington is infested equally with idiots of both "D"'s and "R"'s.
12 posted on 10/03/2003 11:28:57 AM PDT by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
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To: SheLion; *Wod_list; jmc813
health groups wanted the FDA to be able to ban tobacco products

Smokers, welcome to the War On Some Drugs.

13 posted on 10/06/2003 6:28:31 AM PDT by MrLeRoy (The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. - Jefferson)
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To: MrLeRoy; *puff_list; Just another Joe; Great Dane; Max McGarrity; Tumbleweed_Connection; ...
Smokers, welcome to the War On Some Drugs.

DRUGS? I don't THINK so. Tobacco is a legal product and NOT a drug. Drugs are illegal and you need a prescription in order to obtain them. Tobacco and cigarettes can be bought over the counter.


14 posted on 10/06/2003 6:35:13 AM PDT by SheLion (Curiosity killed the cat BUT satisfaction brought her back!!!)
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To: SheLion; MrLeRoy
"DRUGS? I don't THINK so. Tobacco is a legal product and NOT a drug. Drugs are illegal and you need a prescription in order to obtain them. Tobacco and cigarettes can be bought over the counter."

I'm a smoker, and I disagree. Tobacco contains nicotine, which is a drug. Alcohol, which is sold over the counter, is a drug. Caffiene, which is in every sip of coffee, tea, or soda we drink, is a drug.

And the "War on tobacco" is just an extension of the "War on drugs". Same methods, same m.o.

15 posted on 10/06/2003 6:43:07 AM PDT by Vigilantcitizen (Game on in ten seconds...http://www.fatcityonline.com/Video/fatcityvsdemented.WMV)
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To: SheLion
DRUGS? I don't THINK so. Tobacco is a legal product and NOT a drug. Drugs are illegal and you need a prescription in order to obtain them. Tobacco and cigarettes can be bought over the counter.

Tobacco(and alcohol) are drugs, very addictive ones at that. Legality isn't the definition. For example would declaring cannabis legal make it no longer a drug?

Good to see ya back around SheLion.

16 posted on 10/06/2003 6:43:52 AM PDT by steve50 (Principles are useless if applied selectively)
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To: SheLion
I'd like to, one time in my life, walk to Washington D.C. carrying signs and literature protesting the incredible mass of regulations, rules, and laws that the ordinary American trying to make a living MUST follow.

I'm screaming angry about this. We're buried--buried in a mass of freaking rules that are so complex and mostly contradictory that we can't even live day to day without breaking a number of the freaking laws--it's everywhere! It's all the way from medical care and the massive volumes of paperwork required for the simplest payment for the simplest healing act, the volumes of laws businesses must follow even BEFORE any doors are opened to try to sell something, the OSHA regulations, the EPA regulations, the FDA regulations, the Housing regulations, the TAX regulations--federal, state, county, city--

And now they want to add another steaming mound to something as simple as making, selling, and lighting a cigarette!

WHERE DOES IT END? WHEN DOES THE GOVERNMENT STOP REGULATING AND TAXING EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR EXISTENCE FROM THE VERY AIR YOU BREATHE TO THE WAY YOU ARE BURIED?????
17 posted on 10/06/2003 6:43:53 AM PDT by Judith Anne (Cyanide, mercury, and botulinum toxin are medically and industrially useful friends to mankind.)
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To: SheLion; All
Sorry, I forgot the /rant.
18 posted on 10/06/2003 6:45:20 AM PDT by Judith Anne (Cyanide, mercury, and botulinum toxin are medically and industrially useful friends to mankind.)
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To: SheLion
*sigh* The freaking government is going to kill us all...tobacco hasn't done a tiny fraction or miniscule percentage of the harm the freaking government has...
19 posted on 10/06/2003 6:47:35 AM PDT by Judith Anne (Cyanide, mercury, and botulinum toxin are medically and industrially useful friends to mankind.)
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To: Judith Anne; SheLion
"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken....There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

-- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, Ch. III, "White Blackmail"

20 posted on 10/06/2003 6:48:14 AM PDT by Vigilantcitizen (Game on in ten seconds...http://www.fatcityonline.com/Video/fatcityvsdemented.WMV)
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