Tobacco Documents Online

Copyright (C) 1995 by Federal Information Systems Corporation - Friday, July 14, 1995 NBC's "Today": Rep. Richard Burr and Matthew Myers, Coalition on Smoking or Health Transcript ID: 1211319 (139 lines) NBC "TODAY" INTERVIEW WITH: REI'. RICHARD BUm{ (~-NC) MATTHEW MYERS, COALITION ON SMOKING OR HEALTH 7:10 A.M. (EDT) FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1995 BRYANT GUMBEL: On Close-up this rooming, children and smoking. According to FDA Commissioner David Kessler, 3000 children become new regular smokers each and every day. And as a result, almost a third of them will eventually die from diseases related to smoking. With an eye to that troubling statistic, the FDA is seeking White House approval to regulate nicotine as an addictive drug, a move applauded in Washington by Matthew Myers. He's legal counsel for the Coalition on Smoking or Health. Mr. Myers, good morning. MR. MYERS: Good morning. MR. GUMBEL: We can understand why you would welcome FDA recognition of nicotine. In a practical sense, though, what difference would it make? MtL MYERS: It'll make a big difference. The one area that we have not really succeeded over the last 10 years is reducing smoking among teenagers. Part of the reason is that the tobacco industry has only paid lip service to their claim they don't want to sell to kids. They continue to market heavily to children. They continue to take actions to oppose strong regulation that would make it difficult for children to buy cigarettes. Unless we finally put some real T!38760349

significance behind our rhetoric and take strong action to discourage kids from smoking, to stop tobacco companies from marketing to kids, we're going to continue to see 3000 children start lighting up every day. And unfortunately, tobacco will remain the number one preventable cause of death and disease in this country, It's time to act. And the tobacco industry has shown that they can't be trusted to do it on their own. MR. GUMBEL: But there are already regulations in place against selling cigarettes to minors. They're not enforced. What makes you think any new regulations would be more strictly enforced? MR. MYERS: You've made a very important point. We've talked a lot about not selling cigarettes to kids and we'.ve passed laws that say it's illegal, but we've done nothing more. FDA and Commissioner Kessler have said very clearly that they believe that we need a comprehensive program to stop the tobacco companies from marketing to children and to turn our rhetoric into action, to eliminate smoking in vending machines, to begin to license retailers and require photo IDs of children so that we can change how we've handled this issue so children will understand we really don't want them to smoke. MR. GUMBEL: Let me get a second opinion. Richard Burr is a congressman North Carolina. Part of his district is tobacco country. He, of course, has a different view. Mr. Burr, good morning. REP. BURR: Good morning, Bryant. How are you? MR. GUMBEL: I'm flue, thank you, sir. Since your constituents would be affected, we understand your concern here. To your mind, though, what's wrong with FDA regulation of nicotine? REP. BURR: Well, Bryant, number one, it's not just my constituents. We have a responsibility in Congress to make laws and to enforce laws with responsible attitudes. This is a legal product in this country. No member of Congress wants to see children under 18 smoke. There are many programs out there, and the Centers for Disease Control's own study shows that last year we had a 10 percent decline. Less than 8 percent of the children in this country under 18 actually list themselves as smokers. So it's a small segment. Our youth are T138760350

responsible. MR. GUMBEL: But what harm would be done by regulating it as a nicotine and making sure that those youth who are not responsible don't wind up becoming addioted to nicotine? REP. BURR: Well, Bryant, we're very artxious to work with the president, with Dr. Kessler if indeed he's serious, and with the industry to make sure that vending machine access is limited to those areas where there's adult supervision. We're interested in working with the states under the 1992 act that was passed, the drug and mental health act, to see that the states regulate access by minors. MR. GUMBEL: But Mr. Burr, when 3000 kids are taking it up every single day, can you really say that it's working? REP. BURR: Well, I think, Bryant, we can certainly use the Centers for Disease Control (taps7) survey that was done. And we're not there. We're going to make progress, But I would suggest to you that the agency that has doubled the length of time that it takes to approve pharmaceuticals and medical devices is just not the example that we need of an agency that would undertake this. MR. MYERS: Bryant-- REP. BURR: Dr. Kessler suggests that they control advertising. MR. MYERS: Bryant -- REP. BURR: Today the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department controls the advertising on the tobacco industry. MR. MYERS: Bryant-- MR, GUMBEL: Mr. Myers, go ahead. MR. MYERS: You've asked the fight question. For 40 years we've asked the tobacco industry to regulate itself, and for 40 years they haven't. All you have to do is look at their advertising campaigns like Joe Camel to know that even while they continue to say they don't want kids to smoke, they're spending over $6 billion a year to encourage children to smoke. And unfortunately it works. The data TI38760351

does show clearly that over the last 10 years not only has the number of teenagers who smoke not declined; it's increased slightly. Most importantly, we have a generation of children who we can save. One of the things we've learned is that if people don't start smoking as children -- and 90 percent of all smokers start as children - then we can keep them from smoking. And if we do that, we can do more to reduce lung cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive lung disease in this country than anything else. It's time for the government to act and stop talldng. M1L GUMBEL: Understood. But again, at this point it's just a proposal. It's still awaiting White House approval, so we're a long way from any action on it. We'll keep our eye on it. Mr. Burr, thank you very much. Mr. Myers, thank you. Good weekend, gentlemen. REP. BURR: Thank you, B~yant. END TI38760352