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OCR Page 1 of 104REPORT TO ACCOMPANY S. 1415-the National Tobacco Policy and Youth Smoking Reduction Act
Purpose of the bill:
The purpose of this bill is: (1) to prevent children from using tobacco products; (2) to more effectively
inform the public of the dangers of using tobacco products;; (3) to ensure that nicotine and tobacco
products are appropriately regulated by the Food and Drug Administration to better protect public health;
(4) to settle claims of the various states against the tobacco industry; (5) to require payments from the
industry to provide for the settlement of relevant state suits; (6) to increase the price-per-pack of cigarettes
to deter youth consumption; (7) to provide a stream of revenue to finance smoking prevention, cessation
and related health research initiatives; and, (8) to assist tobacco farmers and rural communities affected by
reductions in the volume of tobacco consumption.
Background and need for the legislation:
The use of tobacco products poses a serious threat to public health. Health studies show that
nicotine is an addictive substance and tobacco use is harmful to the human body. In the United States,
over four hundred thousand people per year die from smoking related disease, including cancer, heart
disease and emphysema. The human and economic toll of tobacco use is enormous. The Surgeon
General reports that tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of disease and death.
The Secretary of HHS estimates that smoking related health care costs exceed $45 billion per
year, including from Medicare and Medicaid, and the total economic cost of tobacco use exceed $145
billion per year, including the cost of fire damage and related injuries; absenteeism and lost productivity.
The vast majority of tobacco users (90 percent) take up the addiction in their teenage years. Four
and one-half million underage Americans use tobacco. Three thousand youth begin smoking every day,
one thousand of whom will die early from smoking related disease. The American Cancer Society calls
youth consumption of tobacco a "pediatric epidemic."
According to the Center for Disease Control one out of three adolescents in the United States is
using tobacco by age 18. Seventy-one percent of underage smokers smoke daily. Every living Surgeon
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