Philip Morris
Oversight Hearing on Tobacco Products
Fields
- Author
- Bliley
- Bryant, J.
- Campbell, W.
- Ellis, K.
- Flannery
- Funchis, R.G.
- Greenwood
- Horrigan, E.
- Johnston, D.
- Johnston, J.W.
- Kreidler
- Mcmillan
- Reel
- Sandefur, L.
- Sandefur, T.
- Sanders, T.
- Schindler, A.
- Spears, A.W.
- Synar, M.
- Taddeo, J.
- Tisch, A.H.
- Waxman, H.A.
- Wyden
- Type
- TRAN, TRANSCRIPT
- Area
- LEGAL DEPT
- Request
- Stmn/R1-026
- Stmn/R1-028
- Stmn/R1-079
- Stmn/R1-084
- Named Person
- Aspric, J.
- Benowitz, N.
- Bliley
- Bryant, J.
- Bumely, H.
- Burnley
- Campbell, W.
- Charles, J.L.
- Conley
- Cooper, R.
- Dawson, B.
- Denoble, V.
- Ehman, C.
- Ellis, K.
- Flannery
- Fourdrinier
- Funchis, R.G.
- Glover, D.
- Gory, G.
- Greenwood
- Hastert
- Henningfield
- Horrigan, E.
- Jewell, J.
- Johnston, D.
- Johnston, J.W.
- Kessler, D.
- Kornegay, H.
- Kreidler
- Lawrence, R.
- Maya, V.
- Mclaughlin, P.
- Mcmillan
- Moakley
- Nixon
- Panser, F.
- Reel
- Riehl, T.
- Roper
- Sandefur, L.
- Sandefur, T.
- Sanders, T.
- Schindler, A.
- Smith, W.
- Spears, A.W.
- Sprinkle, R.S.
- Suber
- Sulin, G.
- Surgeon General
- Synar, M.
- Taddeo, J.
- Tisch, A.H.
- Waxman, H.A.
- Wyden
- Dingell
- Recipient (Organization)
- Comm on Energy + Commerce
- House
- Subcomm on Health + the Environment
- Named Organization
- American Psychological Assn
- Batf, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
- Betty Ford Clinic
- Blue Ribbon Panel
- British Journal of Addiction
- Bryant Williams
- Bw, Brown & Williamson
- Ca for Statewide Smoking Restrictions
- Centers for Disease Control
- Chain Restaurant Assn
- Cigarette Advertising Guide
- Cnn
- Coalition on Smoking or Health
- Comm of Restaurants Hotels
- Comm on Energy + Commerce
- Congress
- Council of Europe
- Cpsc, Consumer Products Safety Commission
- Cycle Pharmacology
- Embassy Suites Hotels
- Epa, Environmental Protection Agency
- FDA, Food and Drug Administration
- Federal Register
- Flavor Extract Mfg Assn
- Forest Service
- Ftc, Federal Trade Commission
- Hazleton, Hazleton Labs
- Health People 2000 Review
- Hhs, Dept of Health and Human Services
- House
- Journal of American Medical Assn
- Journal of Pharmacology
- Justice Dept
- Lifetime Learning Systems
- Lig, Liggett
- Lor, Lorillard
- Maxwell House Coffee
- Medical College of Va
- Met Life Insurance
- Natl Assn of Convenience Stores
- Natl Inst on Drug Abuse
- Natl Jaycees
- Natl Journal
- NCI, Natl Cancer Inst
- New England Journal of Medicine
- No Doz
- Pa State Univ
- Penn State
- Quik Trip
- RJR Nabisco
- RJR, R.J.Reynolds
- Roper, Roper Org
- Schick Clinic
- Smokeless Tobacco Research Council
- Specialties
- Subcomm on Health + the Environment
- Substance Abuse + Mntl Health Srve Admnst
- Sunday Times London
- TI, Tobacco Inst
- Time
- Tranty Elementary School
- US Domestic Mfg
- US News + World Report
- US Patent Office
- US Tobacco
- US Today
- Usda, U.S. Dept of Agriculture
- Washington Post
- Who, World Health Org
- 35th Tobacco Chemists Conference
- Abc
- Advances in Tobacco Science Symposium
- Amed, American Medical Association
- Amer, American Tobacco
- American Lung Assn
- American Psychiatric Assn
- Author (Organization)
- Amer, American Tobacco
- Bw, Brown & Williamson
- Lig, Liggett
- Lor, Lorillard
- RJR Nabisco
- RJR, R.J.Reynolds
- US Tobacco
- Litigation
- Stmn/Produced
- Site
- N28
- Date Loaded
- 05 Jun 1998
- Brand
- Barclay
- Camel
- Gold Bandits
- Kent
- Marlboro
- Merit
- Premier
- Virginia Slims
- Winston
- UCSF Legacy ID
- wqu42e00
Document Images
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OVERSIGHT HEARING ON TOBACCO PRODUCTS
Thursday, April 14, 1994
House of Representatives,
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
Subcommittee on Health and the Environment,
Washington, D. C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9 a.m., in Room
2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry A. Waxman, (chairman
of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Waxna:n, Synar, Wyden, Dingell,
Bliley, McMillan, Greenwood.
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P R O C E E D I N G S
MR. WAXMAN: . . . This is an historic hearing. For the
first time ever, the Chief Executive Officers of our nation's tobacco
companies are testifying together before the United States Congress.
They are here because this subcommittee has legislative
jurisdiction over those issues that affect our health. No health
issue is as important as cigarette smoking.
it is sometimes easier to event fiction than to face the
truth. The truth is that cigarettes are the single-most dangerous
consumer products ever sold. Nearly a half a million Americans die
every year as a result of tobacco. This is an astounding, almost
incomprehensible statistic.
Imagine our nation's outrage if two fully loaded jumbo
jets crashed each day, killing all aboard. That's the same number of
Americans kill every 24 hours.
Sadly, this deadly habit begins with our kids. Each day,
3,000 children will begin smoking. In many cases, they become hooked
quickly and develop a life-long addiction that is nearly impossible
to break.
For the past 30 years, a series of Surgeo;ns General have
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issued comprehensive reports outlining the dangers these children
will eventually face: lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, bladder
cancer, and stroke, are only some of the diseases tobacco causes.
Now we know that kids will face a serious health threat even if they
don't smoke.
Environmental tobacco smoke is a Class A carcinogen and
it sickens more than a million kids every year. In fact, five former
Surgeon's General of the United States have said before this
subcommittee this year that the most important legislation in disease
prevention that we could enact would be restrictions on smoking in
public places.
This subcommittee will soon act on that legislation, and
it will consider other measures as w1ell.
This hearing will aid our efforts by presenting an
important perspective, but these hearings are important for another
reason as well.
For decades, the tobacco companies have been exempt from
the standards of responsibility and accountability that apply to all
other American corporations. Companies that sell aspirins and cars
and soda are all held to strict standards when they cause harm. We
don't allow those companies to sel3l goods that recklessly endanger
consumers.
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We don't allow them to suppress evidence of dangers when
harm occurred. We don't allow them to ignore science and good sense,
and we demand that when problems occur, corporations and their senior
executives be accountable to Congress and the public.
This hearing marks the beginning of a new relationship
between Congress and the tobacco companies. The old rules are out.
The standards that apply to every other company is in.
We look forward to hearing the testimony this morning
and to working with these companies, to begin to reduce the
extraordinary public health threat that their product poses.
An old proverb says that: A journey of a thousand miles
must begin with a single step. Today is a first step. Many more are
to come as we deal with the most serious health problems facing our
nation.
Before calling on our witnesses I want to recognize
members of the subcommittee for opening statements and to call on Mr.
Bliley first.
MR. BLILEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ladies and gentlemen, I certainly would like to know who
is the anti-smoking group's PR agent because this person has done
more the name I.D. of this small town, Virginia Maya, over the past
few weeks, then all of my press secretaries combined for the past 14
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years.
Seriously, ladies and gentlemen, over the (gap in tape)
that this proceeding is fair and that your voice is heard.
I am proud to represent the thousands of honest, hard-
working men and women who earned their livelihood producing this
legal product.
I am proud of all of their positive contriibutions to my
community. I'11 be damned if they are to be sacrificed on the altar
of political correction.
This Congress must not turn its back on science and
reason just because of the bubble popularity. Though it may be only
tobacco today, what lies next?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. WAXMAN: Thank you, Mr. Bliley.
Mr. Synar.
MR. SYNAR: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me commend you
and Mr. Wyden both for this very historic day that we begin this
journey on.
Fifty million Americans are addicted to smoking.
420,000 of our fellow citizens die each year because of tobacco and
tobacco-related illnesses. Americans want to know why.
Americans also want to know why American CEOs and
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executives continue to deny basic responsibility that they are not
accountable for a thousand deaths everyday of the year in this
country.
Americans want to know why corporate executives in
America deny responsibility that they pray upon children as they
spend 4 billion dollars advertising and promoting a product to the
most vulnerable in our society.
Americans want to know, very simply, why corporate
executives in this great country of ours continue to deny consumers
basic information in order that they can make informed decisions.
Today, at long last, we are going to get some of those
answers. I look forward to today's hearings. As the chairman said,
this is the first step in a long journey.
MR. WAXMAN: Thank you, Mr. Synar.
Mr. McMillan.
MR. McMILLAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you
for taking the time to further investigate this most important issue
and especially to thank you for giving the tobacco industry an
opportunity to come in and directly explain some of the complexities
of the issues which have been raised in recent weeks &nd years, and
confused so many in this chamber.
It's extremely important that we pause long enough and
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listen, in order to get a clear understanding of what to say. I
should point out, unfortunately, that several members oE this
Congress and the North Carolina delegation, who are extremely
affected by this issue, were not allowed to testify today.
They probably represent some 70,000 people who work
directly in the tobacco industry, either growers or processors. I
think their interest and insight into this matter will be useful, and
I hope at a,future date they can be included, and if their written
testimony could be included in the record today.
I know that we will address a number of issues
concerning tobacco processing and smoking in this hearing, and I am
particularly interested in hearing from the principal executives of
the seven major tobacco companies about some of the issues raised,
particularly those that were raised and I think started by
Commissioner Kessler several weeks go before this committee.
It is extremely important that we really get factual
information, and I think the gentlemen here today are in a position
to provide that. Dr. Kessler spent a great deal of time explaining
how he perceives the vision and actions of the tobacco industry.
Several of the issues that were discussed appear to be
in direct contradiction to my understanding as to how tobacco is
processed, and certainly I think to the understanding of the
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gentlemen who are here today. I would expect that this hearing can
shed considerable light on that for the benefit of the members of the
committee and the American public who are watching.
It is important that this subcommittee deal with factual
information, as it should, on matters of this import, that it should
take whatever actions are necessary, based on facts and not on public
persuasion.
However, I am extremely concerned that there are too
many members here and too many others outside who are too eager to
jump too conclusions before they look at the facts. I think we need
to back up and, as the chairman said in his opening statement, apply
equivalent standards to this product as we do to other products and
with the same rationale thought.
I think if we do that, we will serve the American public
well.
I yield back the balance of my time.
MR. WAXMAN: Thank you, Mr. McMillan.
I do want to note that our colleagues from
North Carolina were here to testify at our last hearing. We will have
their statements in the record.
Mr. Wyden.
MR. WYDEN: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
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I want to commend you for all of your years of
leadership in this effort, and also our colleague,
Mike Synar who has done a tremendous job advocating for the health
rights of children who are so directly affected by tobacco products.
I think I would like to start by saying that I come to
this hearing as a parent of a 4-year-old and a l0-year-old, and in a
few years, all of you, the executives who are sitting ait the witness
table are going to be using advertising -- like Joe Camel -- to try
to hook my kids and addict them to tobacco products.
Now some of you are parents and grandparents as well. I
think you would agree with me that all of our children are our most
valuable possession.
I just can't understand how each of you engage in
enterprise that is sure to kill some of our children. I hope today
that you will tell us how you all can live with such a:killing record
on your conscience.
Now this issue, in my view, is no longer a matter of
free choice. It's clear that nicotine is addictive, and it's clear
that people get hooked, and they can't get off.
The same is true with secondhand smoke. We have
innocent bystanders that are hurt as a result of secondhand smoke.
This is no longer a matter of free choice. I hope you'].1 answer to
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us exactly how you all think that it is a matter of people just
exercising an individual preference.
Finally, let me wrap up by saying that yesterday you all
treated the American people to a chemical smorgasbord. You put out a
list of all of the additives. In effect, you said that they're all
safe. I have a letter here from the Centers for Disease Control that
disagrees with you. Let me read it to you:
We cannot categorically state that any of the
ingredients are either safe or hazardous without a reference with
specific doses, and we are unable to determine hazardous risk for any
of the substances.
You all didn't put out quantities of chemicals that are
used in cigarette products. You didn't put it out in terms of each
brand of cigarette.
I'm going to make this letter from the Centers for
Disease Control available to each of you because it makes it very
clear that, until you put out that quantity of chemical that's used,
it cannot be declared that these additives are safe.
Mr. Chairman, again, I commend you and my colleague,
Mike Synar, for many years of work and look forward to our witnesses.
MR. WAXMAN: Thank you, Mr. Wyden.
Mr. Greenwood.
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