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    "ocrText": "02/17/98 12:49 FAX 202 225 8185\nGOV REF MIN\n<\n010\nThe Advisory Committee on Tobacco Policy and Public Health\nCo-Chairs: C. Everett Koop, M.D., and David A. Kessler, M.D.\nFebruary 17, 1998\nHouse Speaker Newt Gingrich\nSenate Majority Leader Trent Lett\nU.S. Congress\nWashington, DC\nDear Sirs:\nThis year may be the most important moment in the history of the tobacco wars, a moment when America\nchooses between a path toward social repair or one toward irrevocable public loss. After years of growing public\nawareness of the addictiveness of nicotine, the adverse health effects of tobacco on users and non-smokers, and the\ntobacco industry's extensive efforts targeted at children and youths, the public is excited about the prospect that\nfederal laws may be enacted that will bring about fundamental change in how the tobacco industry does business\nand that will save millions of lives. Conversely, there is the risk that the tobacco industry could further entrench its\nability to stand outside the ordinary rules of commerce in society.\nDespite all of the disclosures of tobacco industry malfeasance during the last four years, tobacco use among\nchildren is up, the long term decline in tobacco use among African-American teenage boys has been reversed, and\nthe decline in adult rates has stopped. The need for decisive action to protect the public's health has never been\ngreater. No one should underestimate the importance of Congress acting now and acting decisively, nor the proven\nability of the tobacco industry to make a mockery of its implied ethical and moral responsibilities to society.\nWe the undersigned are in agreement. Our first priority is to ensure the passage of comprehensive tobacco\ncontrol legislation in this session of Congress. We would hate to see a watered-down version of the public health\ncommunity's standards. We are committed to evaluating any legislation in its entirety based on its overall impact on\nthe public health.\nWith evidence of tobacco industry misdeeds and mendacity on hand and growing, with sound public health\nproposals on the table, with broad popular support for action, Congress has the opportunity to make fundamental\nchanges in tobacco policy based solely and exclusively on what is good for the public's health without making\nunnecessary concessions to the tobacco industry. Only a comprehensive approach that combines the best of what we\nknow today with a process for making change as we learn more tomorrow should be enacted.\nThe recent disclosure of RJR-Lorillard, Philip Morris and BAT documents confirm what the public health\ncommunity has said for years, namely, that the tobacco industry aggressively attempted to market cigarettes to\nchildren and youths. Additional evidence of renegade tobacco industry behavior is beginning to emerge in the case\ncurrently being brought against the industry by the state of Minnesota and Minnesota Blue Cross and Blue Shield. as\nwell as from other cases. For this reason, it would not be responsible public stewardship to grant immunity to this\nindustry, especially since it has diligently tried to hook children and youths on nicotine and deny their own research\nfindings on the harmful effects of tobacco.\nThe public health community is united in the type of legislation that should be enacted.\nIt is a condensation of recommendations stated in the Final Report of the Advisory Committee on Tobacco Policy\nand Public Health, July 1997, a document that was developed by many of the cosigners of this letter. Essential\npublic health goals include:\n1) FDA: Reaffirm that the FDA has full authority to regulate all areas of nicotine and all other constituents\nand ingredients in tobacco. The FDA must have authority to increase its tobacco research and scientific"
}