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According to U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, that, due in part to tobacco ads targeted at minors, 79,800 children from New York state will have their first cigarette this year and 23,900 of them will become regular smokers. In order to combat the problem, Schumer announced that he is co-sponsoring legislation, introduced by Senator Ted Kennedy, to prevent tobacco companies from targeting underage smokers with advertisements and products. This legislation, known as the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009, has been 15 years in the making, has the support of the President and is set to pass the Senate this week, he said. It will give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco, tobacco advertising and additives put in cigarettes. Research indicates that tobacco companies frequently target minors of high school age and younger because they are the most easily influenced. Schumer said that although the legislation will not prevent people from smoking or place any new taxes on cigarettes, it will ensure that claims tobacco companies make about their product are true and will prevent advertising and tobacco products targeted at minors. “Thousands of children are becoming addicted to this deadly product each year because of targeted campaigns that portray smoking and chewing tobacco as the cool thing to do,” said Schumer during a telephone news conference Wednesday. “We must find ways to end dangerous tobacco company practices that target our children, and this legislation is the critical step toward that goal. “This legislation alone cannot stop our children from smoking, but it will ensure that cigarettes and tobacco are characterized as what they are: dangerously addictive drugs that can, over time, be fatal.” The senator further noted that tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 Americans and resulting in $96 billion in health care costs every year. Despite tobacco’s huge societal cost, tobacco products are among the most unregulated consumer products on the market today; they are exempt from important and basic consumer protections, such as ingredients disclosures, product testing and restriction on marketing to children, the senator said. The legislation he is co-sponsoring includes specific restrictions on youth access and marketing and grants FDA authority to take additional actions in the future to protect the public health. The regulations would become effective no later than one year after enactment. These regulations include: ¯ Ban all outdoor tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds, ¯ Ban all remaining tobacco-brand sponsorships of sports and entertainment events, ¯ Ban free giveaways of any non-tobacco items with the purchase of a tobacco product or in exchange for coupons or proof of purchase, ¯ Limit advertising in publications with significant teen readership as well as outdoor and point-of-sale advertising, except in adult-only facilities, to black-and-white text only, ¯ Restrict vending machines and self-service displays to adult-only facilities, and ¯ Require retailers to verify age for all over-the-counter sales and provide for federal enforcement and penalties against retailers who sell to minors. In his news release on this legislation, Sen. Schumer made mention of specific brands of cigarettes such as Marlboro, Camels and Newport as being directly targeted to attracted young people. When asked if he was opening himself to a lawsuit because of this, the senator said,”No, there is proof of this.” In his press release, the senator said according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, children are three times more sensitive to tobacco advertising than adults and are more likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette marketing than by peer pressure. In fact, one-third of underage experimentation with smoking is attributable to tobacco company marketing which may explain why in New York alone, the tobacco industry spends $443.8 million every year on marketing strategies. These strategies have a direct affect on kids’ decision to buy or smoke tobacco products, as illustrated by the fact that kids in New York buy or smoke 35.5 million packs of cigarettes each year, the senator’s press release noted. In response to a question about rural communities, such as upstate New York, being affected by this advertising campaign, Sen. Schumer said, “The tobacco companies know how to reach everybody — they do it through television, magazine and the other avenues they can currently use.”

 

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