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OCR Page 1 of 37Tobacco/ FDA Supreme Court Case
Q&A
March 21, 2000
Q:
What is the Administration's reaction to the Supreme Court ruling against the FDA
regulation and will you support a legislative change instead?
A:
We are disappointed that the Supreme Court ruled that the Food and Drug Administration
cannot proceed to protect our children from tobacco. This administration has done
everything possible to protect our children from the dangers of tobacco. Five years ago,
the FDA put forward an important proposal to protect children from tobacco by
eliminating advertising aimed at children and curbing minors' access to tobacco products.
Today's Supreme Court ruling, while holding that Congress has not given FDA the
authority to regulate tobacco products, does affirm our view that tobacco use by young
people "poses perhaps the single most significant threat to public health in the United
States." If we are to protect our children from the harms of tobacco, Congress must now
enact the provisions of the FDA rule. Fortunately, there is strong bipartisan support in the
Congress for enacting those protections: in 1998, 57 Senators supported a bill negotiated
by Senators Bill Frist and John McCain containing provisions comparable to those
included in the FDA regulation.
So the President has called upon the leadership of Congress to take up the bipartisan Frist
legislation and act now to protect our children from tobacco. Nearly 4 million children
under the age of 18 smoke cigarettes - every day more than 6,000 try their first cigarette,
3,000 become regular smokers, and 1,000 will have their lives cut short as a result. Every
year, more than 400,000 Americans die of tobacco-related diseases; nearly 80 percent of
them started smoking as children. Some in the tobacco industry - after fighting the FDA
rule in court - now say they support regulation of tobacco. We challenge them to
demonstrate that support by endorsing the Frist-McCain legislation. We believe that by
working together across party lines, we can protect our children and save lives.
Q:
What does this mean and what's the immediate effect?
A:
We are still reviewing the opinion so that we clearly understand the Court's ruling.
However, one immediate effect of this decision is that the FDA youth access enforcement
program cannot continue. This program, operated through FDA contracts with states,
was designed to keep young people from purchasing cigarettes. Nevertheless, we believe
it is encouraging that the court shares our view that tobacco use by young people "poses
perhaps the single most significant threat to public health in the United States".
Q:
Where does FDA currently have contracts and what are these contracts for?
A:
When the tobacco companies filed suit after the final rule was published in August 1996,
the federal district court ordered the FDA not to put in place the rule's restrictions on
tobacco advertising and other marketing aimed at children, but did allow the FDA to go
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