According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, almost 22,000, or twenty-five percent, of Maine high school students still smoke. An additional 79,000 are exposed to secondhand smoke at home. Last year, Maine teenagers smoked, were given, or purchased a total of 2.9 million packs or individual cigarettes. In many cases, teens receive free cigarettes from family and friends. What's especially sad about these numbers is that tobacco use is the most preventable cause of death in the United States. It accounts for almost half a million deaths a year and billions of dollars in health care costs.
Moreover, tobacco addiction is a "teen-onset" disease: ninety percent of all smokers start before they are twenty-one. If we are to put an end to this tragic, yet preventable epidemic, we must accelerate our efforts not only to help more smokers to quit, but also to discourage young people from ever lighting up in the first place.
This month I joined a bipartisan effort with Senators Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in introducing the Youth Smoking Prevention and Public Health Protection Act. This legislation gives clear and comprehensive authority for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products, authority it has lacked up until now.
A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court made this legislation necessary. Two years ago the court held that the FDA does not have the authority to regulate traditional tobacco products. Congress therefore needs to grant the FDA new authority if it is to regulate these products in a manner that will help to diminish teen smoking.
Our bipartisan legislation will give the FDA the legal authority it needs to reduce youth smoking. The bill is designed to prevent tobacco advertising which targets children; to prevent the sale of tobacco products to minors; to help smokers overcome their addiction; to make tobacco products less toxic for those who continue to use them; and to prevent the tobacco industry from misleading the public about the dangers of smoking.
To protect public health, this bill specifically requires the tobacco companies to submit information on all ingredients, substances, and compounds that are added to tobacco, paper, and filters. In addition, the companies would be required to submit information on all research related to health and behavioral or physiological effects of these products and their marketing.
Furthermore, the bill calls for a revision of health warnings on both cigarette and smokeless tobacco products. The FDA will be allowed to revise and add health warnings and to alter their formats to make them more visible. This legislation also will encourage the development of products that reduce consumer health risks or serve as less harmful alternatives to benefit those already addicted to nicotine.
I believe the Youth Smoking Prevention and Public Health Protection Act would have a significant impact in reducing teen smoking and, in the long-term, tobacco-related illnesses and death. Our bill will build on Maine's success in reducing teen smoking and strengthen efforts to combat tobacco use at both the state and federal level. One teenager addicted to tobacco is one too many.