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Coalition on Smoking OR Health 



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June 20, 1994 





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The Honorable John D. Dingell 



Chairman 



Committee on Energy and Commerce 



U. S. House of Representatives 



Washington. D.C. 20515 



Dear Mr. Chairman: 





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The American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and American 

 Lung Association, united as the Coalition on Smoking OR Health, are pleased 

 by your statements that you support efforts by Food and Drug Admmistration 

 Commissioner David Kessler to work with Congress to develop legislation 

 authorizing the regulation of tobacco products. The Coalition supports such 

 legislation and would like to work with you and members of your committee 

 in this effort. We also share your view that action to ban the sale of 

 cigarettes would have negative consequences and is not desirable. 



As you know, the Coalition and more than 70 other national organizations 

 believe that it is time that tobacco products be held to the same regulatory 

 standards as other legal consumer products. Because we strongly believe that 

 FDA has the authority to regulate tobacco products, we supported the effort 

 to obtain a rule to allow an amendment to the Agriculture, Rural 

 Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Fiscal 

 Year 1995 Appropnations bill to instruct the FDA to use its authonty. 



In your June 13 letter to Chairman Moakley concerning the proposed 

 amendment on tobacco product regulation to the Agriculture Appropriations 

 bill, you note two concerns about FDA resources which we would like to 

 address. First, you ask for vigilance in assigning to FDA resource-intensive 

 obligations that it will find enormously difficult to fulfill. And, second, you 

 question whether increased resources made available to FDA would best be 

 used to further the public health through a new regulatory activity. 



The framework for a specific regulatory authority dealing with tobacco 

 products is already pending before your committee. The Fairness in Tobacco 

 and Nicotine Regulation Act, MR. 2147, would establish a separate chapter 

 under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that will regulate the 

 manufacture, sale, labeling, distribution, and advertising and promotion of 



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