Congress vs. Smoking. Right?
Dateline: 11/13/98
November 19,1998 marks the 21st Great American Smokeout. How effective have the 20 previous Smokeouts been? According to the Centers for Disease Control...
- The 1996 Smokeout advertisements reached an estimated 122 million adults, including 30 million smokers---nearly two of every three smokers in the United States.
- On the day of the 1996 Smokeout, 26% of smokers (an increase from 18% in 1995) either quit or reduced their smoking for the day.
- In 1996, sales of nicotine medications increased by 11% over average sales during the 4-week national promotion; sales during the specific Smokeout week increased 30%.
Pretty effective.
And the 105th US Congress, being made up mainly of politicians, has been more than anxious to answer the call of public opinion with a raft of proposed legislation designed to, in one way or another to...
- Reduce or otherwise control smoking and the use of tobacco products in general
- Impose new or tougher controls on the production and sale of tobacco products
- Fund new or continuing research into health concerns related to tobacco use
During the 1997-98 Congressional session, 88 such bills and resolutions were introduced. Of those, only 28 ever saw floor debate and only 1 (one) bill was signed into law. Senate Bill 1722 - "Women's Health Research and Prevention Amendments of 1998" was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton on October 31, 1998. This bill extends funding through the year 2003 for research conducted by the National Institutes of Health in several areas of womens' health concerns, only one of which is smoking.
Now, to be fair, over10,000 pieces of legislation are introduced in every (two-year) Congress. Almost every bill is sent to one or more committees for review. Before a bill is can be debated on the floor of the House or Senate, it must be approved by all committees having jurisdiction over it. This can take a long time and most bills never get out of the committed system. The latest Congress (1997-98) considered a total of 13,882 legislative actions of which 354 made it all the way through and became Public Law.
But, look at the titles of some of the 87 bills that did not become law during the 105th Congress:
- Tobacco-Free Youth Act (Introduced in the House)[H.R.2519.IH]
- Cigars Are Not A Safe Smoking Alternative Act (Introduced in the Senate)[S.2625.IS]
- Pregnant Mothers and Infants Health Protection Act of 1997 (Introduced in the Senate)[S.938.IS]
- Airliner Cabin Air Quality Act of 1997 (Introduced in the House)[H.R.552.IH]
- Investing in Our Children's Health Act of 1998 (Introduced in the House)[H.R.3908.IH]
- Teen Tobacco Use Prevention Act of 1998 (Introduced in the House)[H.R.3889.IH]
- Youth Protection From Tobacco Addiction Act of 1997 (Introduced in the House)[H.R.762.IH]
- National Tobacco Policy and Youth Smoking Reduction Act (as)[S.1415.AS]
- Bipartisan NO Tobacco for Kids Act of 1998 (Introduced in the House)[H.R.3868.IH]
Why did the vast majority of smoking reduction - tobacco control related legislation not become law? Some acts may have been bad laws, having Constitutional or other legal problems. Some may have been too expensive. Others were probably covered by other bills. Most just flat ran out of time. But, let's face it, some of these bills ran up against the tremendous influence of one America's oldest and largest industries - tobacco.
Tobacco represents lots of people; people who grow it, people who process it, people who sell it, yes, even people who use it. (jobs + votes + money) = Congress Power.
But, non-smokers enjoy just as much, if not more, "Congress Power". Look at it this way; how many pro-tobacco, pro-smoking bills were introduced?
And, which US industry had all of its public and private documents and correspondence subpoenaed by Congress? Tobacco...
Representative Tom Bliley (Rep., VA) is Chairman of the Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives. During 1998, Rep. Bliley's Committee subpoenaed all documents from the four major US tobacco companies and Tobacco Institute. Among these were reports on research confirming the addictive qualities of nicotine, strategies for marketing tobacco products to young people, and other highly controversial issues. So far, over 39,000 of these documents have been made available on the Internet at the House Committee on Commerce - Tobacco Documents Web site.
In 1977, I worked in a City Hall - a public building - where smoking was allowed everywhere. This was taken for granted and non-smokers were welcome to step outside. That was also the year of the first Great American Smokeout. By 1980, smoking was allowed nowhere in that City Hall. This was taken for granted and smokers had to step outside.
For Further Reading / Research
Other Smokeout links and help to kick the habit:
Smokeout Central on Mining Co.
To read any of these, or other bills of the 101 - 105th Congress:
Thomas Legislative
Information Bill Text Search
To learn how America's legislative process works:
How Our Laws Are
Made - Thomas, The Legislative Process
To read about the tobacco industry's 1997 proposal to "settle" the
anti-smoking issue:
The Tobacco Resolution Home
Page
The United States Congress:
The United States House of
Representatives
The United States Senate
