Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, spoke on the House floor Wednesday in support of House Resolution 1109, the Family Smoking Prevention Act. A copy of her remarks follow:
“Madame Speaker, I rise in strong support of HR 1108.
“This bill is about bringing smoking prevention and cessation efforts into the 21st century. We have known for a long time about the health dangers posed by tobacco use. Nobody uses tobacco because they think it’s good for their health.
“What this bill does is take steps necessary to help people quit and most importantly: help them never to begin.
“One of the ways this bill accomplishes that is by giving greater authority to the FDA to regulate advertising and marketing of tobacco products. By prohibiting the colorful marketing of tobacco products to children, we can help prevent countless young people from falling prey to deceptive advertising … the kind that describes smoking with the same adjectives used to describe candy.
“Now some of this bill’s opponents may try to say that the FDA is ill-equipped to handle this. I just want to remind my colleagues that this bill provides the FDA new resources to handle tobacco regulation based upon a plan that the agency itself devised over a decade ago.
“I would like to commend my colleague Mr. Waxman for his tireless work on behalf of this legislation.
“I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of HR 1108.
“I yield back.”
Emily Kryder is press secretary for Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.