Congressman Platts Joins President Obama and Bipartisan Congressional Delegation at the White House for Signing of Tobacco Legislation

Washington, D.C. – Legislation co-sponsored by Congressman Todd Platts (PA-19), which helps prevent tobacco advertising to children and ensures that tobacco company claims about the safety of their products are scientifically accurate, will be signed into law this afternoon by President Barack Obama at the White House.  Congressman Platts was the lead Republican sponsor of the legislation (H.R. 1256), “The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,” which aims to reduce the more than 400,000 deaths and $193 billion in economic costs annually due to tobacco-caused diseases. 

“It is a great pleasure to join with President Obama and my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to enact this important legislation,” said Congressman Platts, who serves as co-chair of the Congressional Taskforce on Tobacco and Health.  “While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the authority to regulate products such as lipstick, hair spray and shaving cream – not to mention anti-smoking products such as nicotine gums and patches – the FDA did not have the authority needed to regulate one of the deadliest, if not the deadliest, products available for sale to our citizens.  H.R. 1256 provides the FDA with this much-needed authority.  It is long past time when tobacco products should be subject to serious regulation to better protect the public's health.”

H.R. 1256 gives the FDA the authority to prohibit the marketing of tobacco products to children. Every day, 3,600 children try their first cigarette and 1,100 become daily smokers. With health care costs spiraling out of control every year, the cost of treating these smokers later in life has become prohibitively expensive. Prohibiting advertising to children will go a long way in preventing young people in America from starting to smoke and will save billions of dollars in health care costs and countless lives in the future.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act does not ban tobacco products – it preserves an adult's choice to smoke.  H.R. 1256 would, however, allow the FDA to scientifically evaluate the health benefits and risks posed by ingredients in cigarettes. This legislation would make sure those tobacco products that are marketed as a safe alternative to cigarettes are, in fact, scientifically safer.

H.R. 1256 has received wide support from more than 950 public health and faith organizations including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids as well as many other national, state, and local organizations.  The lead Democrat sponsor of H.R. 1256 in the U.S. House of Representatives was Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA-30).  The legislation passed the U.S. House by a margin of 298-112 on April 2, 2009 and passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 79-17 on June 11, 2009.  The U.S. House re-approved the legislation, as amended by the Senate, by a vote of 307-97 on June 12, 2009.

The signing ceremony for “The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” will take place at 2:00 p.m. today at the White House.