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The comprehensive report released today by the National Cancer Institute provides the government's strongest conclusion to date that tobacco marketing causes kids to smoke and that anti-tobacco advertising campaigns prevent smoking. The 684-page report, The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, is an exhaustive review of more than 1,000 scientific studies and presents definitive conclusions that a) tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use, and b) exposure to depictions of smoking in the movies is causally related to youth smoking initiation. The report also concludes that mass media campaigns can reduce smoking, but so-called "youth smoking prevention campaigns" sponsored by the tobacco industry have been generally ineffective and may actually have increased youth smoking.
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This report sends a loud and clear message to the nation's policy-makers: We need less tobacco company marketing and more anti-tobacco advertising. According to the most recent data, tobacco company marketing expenditures exceed state anti-tobacco efforts by a margin of more than 18 to one. In 2005, the tobacco industry spent $13.4 billion to market their deadly and addictive products in the U.S., according to the Federal Trade Commission. In comparison, states spent just $717 million on tobacco prevention programs last year.
The NCI report should spur urgent action by elected officials, as well as the entertainment industry, to curtail practices that encourage tobacco use and step up efforts that discourage tobacco use.
FDA regulation of tobacco products. Most immediately, Congress should enact pending legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over tobacco products, which would impose specific restrictions on tobacco marketing that appeals to kids and give the FDA authority to further restrict tobacco marketing to the full extent allowed by the First Amendment.
On July 30, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 326-102 to approve this legislation. With 58 sponsors and several other senators who have committed to supporting the bill, the Senate has the votes to pass the bill when it returns in September. The Senate should seize on the momentum of the House vote and act this year to protect our children from the tobacco industry's predatory marketing practices.
This bipartisan legislation would grant the FDA broad authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco products and impose specific restrictions on tobacco marketing that appeals to children. It would limit tobacco advertising in stores and in magazines with significant teen readership to black-and-white text only, eliminating the colorful images that depict smoking as cool and glamorous. It would ban outdoor tobacco advertising near schools and playgrounds, end tobacco sponsorships of sports and entertainment events, and require stores to place tobacco products behind the counter. Most important, it would give the FDA the authority to impose additional marketing restrictions and counter the tobacco companies' efforts to get around specific restrictions.
This legislation will also enhance state tobacco control efforts by giving states new authority to limit tobacco marketing. Currently, states are preempted by a 1965 federal law from regulating tobacco marketing. This legislation would allow states to regulate the time, place and manner of cigarette marketing, consistent with the First Amendment.
In addition to these marketing restrictions, this legislation would require tobacco companies to disclose the contents of their products, empower the FDA to require changes i
