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Last Updated: Jul 31st, 2007 - 14:00:49 |
Let FDA regulate tobacco
Jul 31, 2007, 13:57
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The following commentary was submitted by the Rev. Nancy Gammill, president of Kansas Ecumenical Ministries; Bishop Scott Jones of the Kansas area United Methodist Church; Bishop Gerald Mansholt of the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; and JoVeta Wescott, executive director of the Kansas Parish Nurse Ministry. The religious community is currently facing a devastating social challenge -- the escalating death and illness from tobacco products. The numbers are disturbing. Tobacco use remains the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the United States, claiming 3,900 lives annually in Kansas alone. And, unfortunately, more children are taking up the habit every day. Today, 2.7 million children under 18 are smokers. Each day, about 4,000 kids will try their first cigarette and another 1,000 kids will become new, regular, daily smokers. The health effects of smoking begin early. Child smokers are far more likely than their peers to have serious periodontal disease (including tooth loss), decreased lung function, chronic coughing, increased phlegm and higher susceptibility to severe influenza. Years from now, one third of those same kids will die as a result of this addiction. We can reverse these trends by making it harder for kids to buy cigarettes and making it illegal for tobacco companies to use marketing aimed at our children to recruit replacements for the more than 400,000 Americans who will die this year from smoking-related causes. The faith community simply cannot ignore this tragedy because we spend too much time burying mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who die because they became addicted to tobacco products when they were young. Now Congress has a historic opportunity to protect children and save lives. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is bipartisan legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco products and their marketing. While this legislation would help protect all Americans from the ravages of tobacco, it includes specific provisions to protect our nation's children from this deadly addiction. Among other things, the proposed legislation would ban outdoor advertising near schools, remove advertising with colorful pictures that appeal to children from stores and from magazines with high youth readership, and put larger, more effective warning labels on the cigarette packs themselves. The bill's strong, effective restrictions on advertising and marketing of tobacco products to children strike at the very heart of the tobacco industry business model. A lifetime addiction almost always starts in the teenage years: 90 percent of adult smokers began smoking as teens. Any attempt to limit the national epidemic of tobacco addiction must begin with children. The tobacco companies' techniques to entice children have become even more sophisticated and effective. R.J. Reynolds, now Reynolds American, the same company that once marketed cigarettes to kids with Joe Camel, a cartoon character, launched a series of flavored cigarettes, including a citrus-flavored cigarette called "Twista Lime." By passing the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, Congress can take a major step to protect our children and reduce the terrible toll of tobacco on our community. You can do something really important for our children and families by contacting Kansas' members of Congress and telling them to vote for this bill. It will protect families and save lives.
© Copyright 2006 by CigarettesOn.Com
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