2006 TOBACCO CONTROL TRENDS

The American Lung Association State of Tobacco Control 2006 highlights the following trends:

• More States Go Smokefree
  
  2006 was an unprecedented year for smokefree air laws. Nine states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico passed legislation significantly strengthening their smokefree air laws. There also was encouraging progress on this issue in several traditional tobacco producing states. For example, Tennessee prohibited smoking in all state government buildings and North Carolina prohibited smoking in all buildings occupied by the General Assembly. As of January 2007, 13 states and the District of Columbia were smokefree and three more states and Puerto Rico had passed smokefree laws that had not yet taken full effect.
  
  
• Maine Leads the Way Again: Scores an A in All Four Categories for the 2nd Year in a Row
  
  Maine again has the distinguished honor of being the only state to score an A in each of the four categories: Tobacco Prevention Funding, Smokefree Air, Cigarette Tax and Youth Access. However, New York is close behind with an A in three out of the four categories. Maine has set an example for all states and proved that with the political will, a perfect grade is possible. Maine will save lives from the death and disease caused by tobacco use and addiction by enacting these proven tobacco control policies.
  
  
• The Federal Government Remains Largely Unresponsive to Tobacco Threat

  "In a democracy, it is the body elected by the people, namely Congress, that should step up to the plate and address national issues with such enormous economic, public health, commercial, and social ramifications." —U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler in her opinion finding the tobacco companies liable of civil racketeering charges.9

  
  
  2006 came and went without any meaningful tobacco control action taken by Congress or the Administration. Legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products was again introduced in Congress. The list of co-sponsors continued to grow, but no final action was taken in 2006. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first tobacco control treaty, continued to languish on the President’s desk as it took on the force of international law. As of December 2006, 141 nations (NOT including the U.S.) have become parties to the treaty. 
  
  In June 2006, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a landmark new report on the dangers of secondhand smoke. The report found that no level of exposure to secondhand smoke is safe. Later in the summer, the U.S. House of Representatives announced that smoking would no longer be allowed in most public places within the House complex. However, neither the U.S. Senate nor the U.S. House of Representatives are smokefree—smoking is still allowed in some public locations, in the offices of individual Members of Congress and in committee offices. Smoking is still permitted in some areas of the U.S. Capitol building itself, including the Speaker’s Lobby, located just off the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. By allowing smoking, Members of Congress and their staffs are exposing other legislators, employees and visitors to the dangers of secondhand smoke—contrary to the advice of the U.S. Surgeon General. 
  
  A guilty verdict was handed down against the tobacco companies in the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit originally filed in 1999. On August 17, 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler found the major tobacco companies liable of civil racketeering.⁸ The verdict came a little over a year after the trial formally concluded. Unfortunately, Judge Kessler said that she was restrained in the types of remedies she could impose by a prior appellate court ruling. The American Lung Association has urged the U.S. Department of Justice to appeal the remedies portion of this ruling so that more appropriate remedies can be imposed against the companies for their 50-year campaign of fraud and deception. The Lung Association and fellow public health intervenors in the case have also filed with the appropriate court a motion stating our intention to appeal the remedies portion of the ruling. 
  
  Less than two weeks after the racketeering verdict was handed down, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released a study finding that tobacco companies significantly increased the levels of nicotine in cigarettes between 1998 and 2004. Nicotine levels in the three cigarette brands most popular among youth smokers—Marlboro, Newport and Camel— were among those found to have increased significantly during that six-year period.¹⁰ Increased nicotine levels may make it easier for kids to become addicted and more difficult for smokers to quit. The Massachusetts study again highlights the need for Congress to pass legislation giving the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products.