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First, smoking and health. I and other chief executives of tobacco 

 companies have somehow been cast as living in the dark ages when 

 it comes to being aware of studies on smoking and health. I state 

 for the record that I believe there are health risks statistically as- 

 sociated with smoking, and that the same illnesses statistically as- 

 sociated with cigarette smoking also have been tied to other human 

 conditions, including life-style, diet, and heredity. And the public 

 has certainly been aware of the risks of smoking for a long, long 

 time. 



That leads me to my next point and that is the regulation of the 

 tobacco industry and to be more precise, in my opinion, back door 

 prohibition of tobacco sales. 



Because, again, in my opinion, that seems to be where we are 

 headed. It has been contended, and "tobacco products are the Na- 

 tion's least regulated consumer products, with tobacco products 

 being exempt from every major health and safety law." 



Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, our industry is 

 probably the most regulated in U.S. commerce, from the sowing of 

 the seed in the seed bed to the sale of the finished product at retail. 

 The following agencies regulate tobacco products or have issued re- 

 ports that have the same impact as regulations. The U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; 

 the Federal Trade Commission; the Environmental Protection 

 Agency; OSHA; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Re- 

 sources; pardon me. Health and Human Services; the Consumer 

 Products Safety Commission, including the National Institute of 

 Standards and Technology, as well as the Surgeon General. 



In addition to these Federal agencies, various States or every 

 State and various counties and local municipalities have laws on 

 the books regulating the sale, the distribution, and the marketing 

 of cigarettes. There are literally thousands of regulations. There- 

 fore, I believe it is totally misleading to paint the tobacco industry 

 as business that is run unbridled. And given the fact that we al- 

 ready are heavily regulated, I have concern that we now are head- 

 ed down a road of putting this industry out of business. 



There is certainly no doubt about it in my mind. 



That's clear— that's clearly the intent of giving the FDA super- 

 power jurisdiction. I recognize that the legislation proposed by Con- 

 gressman Synar purports to prohibit the FDA from banning ciga- 

 rettes outright. The words in that legislation make it perfectly 

 clear. My concern is that we need to keep an eye on the back door. 



Let me explain why. Because the FDA's jurisdiction — because of 

 the FDA's jurisdiction, the Agency could make it absolutely impos- 

 sible for us to sell cigarettes because of the reach of their regu- 

 latory powers. 



For example, the FDA can say you can sell a cigarette but it 

 can't have any nicotine or they could say it is OK to sell cigarettes, 

 but they can't emit any secondhand smoke. I think you understand 

 my point. It is like telling a company it is OK to sell a beer as long 

 as it doesn't contain any alcohol. The pathway to FDA regulation 

 is the pathway to prohibition and we need only to look to the past 

 to understand the consequences. 



Over the course of 19 — of 1895 to 1921, more than a dozen States 

 enacted legislation banning tobacco products, banning the sale of 



