American Cancer Society Charges Congress to Correct Flaws in Tobacco Settlement Plan

American Cancer Society
Friday, 1 June 2001

Two major elements of the current tobacco settlement proposal will require substantial revision for the agreement to succeed in its most important potential benefit to public health -- reducing smoking rates and therefore tobacco-caused disease and death, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

"There are many questions about this proposal that still need to be answered," said ACS President Myles Cunningham, MD, "but before the American Cancer Society can even consider supporting a settlement plan, we hope Congress will assure legislation which requires: (1) absolute assurance that the FDA will have complete and unfettered authority over the regulation of nicotine and other cigarette ingredients, and (2) a significant strengthening of tobacco industry penalties for failure to reach smoking rate reduction goals set in the settlement's "look-back" provision."

"While the American Cancer Society still believes at this point that a settlement agreement with tobacco companies has more potential for advancing public health than the uncertain outcome of lengthy continued litigation or piecemeal legislation, these two troublesome settlement elements could cancel out the progress we could make with the other industry concessions," Dr. Cunningham said.

"It is our goal to help influence a final resolution that allows society to make a quantum leap in public health," said ACS Board of Directors Chairman George Dessart. "We have not yet completed our evaluation of the settlement document and will not take a final positive position until we are convinced we have a blueprint that leads us to that result. In the meantime, we hope to assist in the Congressional review of this issue by furnishing background information on what we perceive to be the settlement's implications on public health.

"We have noted that language in the settlement document places restrictive burdens on FDA's ability to regulate nicotine and other cigarette ingredients," said Dr. Cunningham. The settlement document requires that FDA present a "preponderance of evidence" that such ingredients are harmful to health and that restricting them would not create a black market. "These restrictions contradict the rules by which FDA may regulate any other substance under its jurisdiction," said Dr. Cunningham. "It is absurd and unacceptable to create a standard that is more burdensome on FDA authority on products as deadly as these. FDA's jurisdiction over tobacco products has been upheld by the Greensboro Federal Court decision. There is no logical basis for backtracking on that victory here, when what we really want is legislation which guarantees it."

ACS's initial evaluation of the settlement language has also noted that there appears to be an insufficient incentive for tobacco companies to achieve the reduction in youth smoking rates prescribed by the settlement plan, according to George Dessart. "It needs to be so financially painful for the industry to miss these 30% and 60% decreases in youth smoking rates at five and ten years respectively, that working hard to achieve them is their only option," he said.

"We believe that tobacco industry concessions on advertising bans, warning labels and public education are creating a potential for significant progress toward a society free of tobacco-caused disease and death," said Dessart. "But this opportunity is too important for fast responses. The longer we look at this, the more we realize how crucial it is that we have a full public and Congressional evaluation of these important plan elements. "

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org