537 



statement 



of the 



Honorable H. Martin Lancaster 



before the 



Subcommittee on Health and the Environment 



April 14. 1994 



Mr. Chairman, this Subcommittee is currently is currently considering issues that are 

 extremely important to me and the livelihood of many of my constituents. 1 remain 

 deeply troubled about the ill-conceived attack this Subcommittee and Commissioner 

 Kessler launched regarding nicotine in cigarettes. 



Commissioner Kessler has acknowledged that, if his agency regulated tobacco as a drug, 

 the overwhelming majority of tobacco products, if not all of them, would have to be 

 harmed. But because Commissioner Kessler recognizes the disastrous ramifications of 

 ProhibiUon, he has asked Congress to give him "clear direction". 



I am happy to provide the Commissioner with the direction he has requested. My 

 direction is simple. LEAVE TOBACCO ALONE! 



In reviewing the testimony offered to this Subcommittee on March 25, I fmd no 

 convincing justification for giving the FDA additional authority to regulate tobacco. Much 

 of Commissioner Kessler's testimony was focused on 33 of the more than 26.000 patents 

 held by the cigarette manufacturers. Of those 33 patents Dr. Kessler focused his 

 attention, he had no indication whatsoever that any of the patents were being used. I 

 believe will today's testimony will substantiate the industry's assertion that none of these 

 33 patents are used to increase the level of nicotine in cigarettes. 



The FDA's other "evidence " included charts which insinuate that nicotine levels are 

 increasing in cigarettes while tar levels are decreasing. Such a suggestion flies in the face 

 of several reports by the Surgeon General which clearly point out that nicotine and tar 

 levels in cigarettes have fallen dramatically over the past 40 yeeirs and continue to do so 

 at a ratio which approaches one-to-one. 



The FDA has traditionally asserted no jurisdiction over tobacco under the Federal Food. 

 Drug and Cosmetic Act because manufacturers make no health claims for the product. 

 Commissioner Kessler now suggests that cigarettes should be treated as a "drug", 

 regardless of how they are promoted to the consumer. He bases this proposal on the 

 supposed 'new' informaUon that cigarette companies are apparently able to control 

 nicotine levels in cigarettes. This reminds me of the Claude Rains character in 

 "Casablanca" who declared he was "shocked, shocked " to discover that gambling was 

 going on in Rick's cafe. For the past twenty or thirty years cigarette manufacturers have 

 offered consumers cigarettes whose smoke contains substantially reduced amounts of 

 both nicotine and tar. Clearly the fact that low-tar and nicotine brands have been in the 

 marketplace for many years suggests that nicotine in finished cigarettes is not at the 

 same level as that which occurs naturally in the cured tobacco leaf. However, in no case 

 is the level of nicotine increased as Dr. Kessler asserted in his testimony last month. 



Dr. Kessler appears to have joined forces with the neo-Prohibitionists. But their version 

 of America is not one which my constituents or I share. We are cilso insulted at the 

 comparisons made between cigarettes and Ulicit hard drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. 



