177 



8 



deliveries...." And an R.J. Reynolds patent discusses a process that results in a "cigarette 

 having a puff by puff nicotine delivery curve radically different from that of a conventional 

 cigarette." 



There are, Mr. Chairman, many, many more. 



Just prior to the submission of our petition to the FDA, the Coalition received a letter from 

 Commissioner David Kessler. A copy of that letter is attached to our testimony. The letter 

 was in response to our 1988 low tar and low nicotine petition, but in fact went much 

 further, reaching some of the same general conclusions that we had reached and which are 

 contained in our March 7th fding. The letter also indicated that FDA jurisdiction over 

 cigarettes would probably result in the products being banned under the "drug" provisions 

 of the FDC Act and that the FDA wanted to woric with Congress in finding solutions once 

 and for all for the way in which tobacco products should be dealt with in the future. The 

 FDA letter, in our view, changes the dynamics of the tobacco control and tobacco 

 regulation debate. It recognizes that the industry by its own volition has skirted and 

 violated the law. It indicates that the FDA will enforce the law if necessary and if Congress 

 fails to act. The tobacco industry's free lunch, Mr. Chairman, must come to an end. 



Mr. Chairman, it is high time that Congress act. Your leadership and the leadership of 

 many members of this subcommittee must be commended. But it is time for the other 

 members of this subcommittee to put the American public's health first. Thirty years of 

 tobacco industry domination at the expense of millions and millions of American lives is 

 too high a price to pay. What hypocrisy it is to talk about health care and ignore our 

 biggest preventable cause of disease and death, tobacco use. This is not the subcommittee 

 on tobacco, this is the subcommittee on health. 



