138 



Mr. Waxman. We have a number of witnesses that we are going 

 to ask to come up together and testify as a panel. Obviously these 

 witnesses have a diversity of opinion. We want to call Scott Ballin, 

 Legislative Counsel of the American Heart Association appearing 

 on behalf of the Coalition on Smoking OR Health. Charles Whitley, 

 Senior Consultant to the Tobacco Institute, Steven Raffle, a physi- 

 cian appearing at the request of the Tobacco Institute, John Slade, 

 a physician and chairman of the Committee on Nicotine Depend- 

 ence of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Alexander 

 Spears, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the Lorillard 

 Tobacco Company, Sherwin Gardner, Consultant to Philip Morris, 

 USA, and Gregory N. Connolly, Director of the Massachusetts To- 

 bacco Control Program, appearing on behalf of the American Public 

 Health Association. 



We want to welcome you to our hearing today. Your prepared 

 statements will be in the record in full. We would like to ask you 

 to limit your oral presentation to 5 minutes. We will start with Mr. 

 Ballin. 



STATEMENTS OF SCOTT D. BALLIN, VICE PRESIDENT, AMER- 

 ICAN HEART ASSOCIATION, ON BEHALF OF COALITION ON 

 SMOKING OR HEALTH; CHARLES O. WHITLEY, SENIOR CON- 

 SULTANT, THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE; ALEXANDER W. 

 SPEARS III, VICE CHAIRMAN, LORILLARD TOBACCO CO.; 

 STEPHEN N. RAFFLE, ON BEHALF OF THE TOBACCO INSTI- 

 TUTE; JOHN SLADE, ON BEHALF OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF 

 ADDICTION MEDICINE; SHERWIN GARDNER, ON BEHALF OF 

 PHILIP MORRIS USA; AND GREGORY N. CONNOLLY, ON BE- 

 HALF OF AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION 



Mr. Ballin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, Mr. 

 Chairman and members of the subcommittee. 



Today is indeed an historic hearing, a potential significant turn- 

 ing point of the health of the American public. Since the first Sur- 

 geon General's report was released 30 years ago this past January, 

 the tobacco industry and the deadly products that it sells have es- 

 caped regulation under all major health and safety laws enacted by 

 Congress designed to protect the American public health. 



Applying any of those laws to tobacco products would probably 

 have resulted in the products being removed from the marketplace. 

 That is how dangerous and how hazardous these products have 

 been and are to the American public. 



The epidemic of tobacco-related diseases and deaths will continue 

 until the tobacco industry is forced to adhere to regulations and 

 standards that are designed to protect the health of the American 

 public rather than the profits of the tobacco industry. 



While tobacco products have been exempted from regulation 

 under most health and safety statutes, there is one health and 

 safety act that does not include a specific exemption for tobacco 

 products, and that is the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 



As this subcommittee is well aware, the Food and Drug Adminis- 

 tration is the primary Agency charged with insuring that products 

 which the public ingests, implants or applies to its skin are safe, 

 effective, properly packaged, dispensed properly, labeled, and prop- 

 erly marketed. 



