House Proceeding on Jun 12th, 2009 :: 2:18:05 to 2:26:10
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2:18:03 to 2:18:23( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: , and f.d.a. is a challenged -- a very challenged agency. i urge individuals t on this legislation. there is a better way to regulate tobacco. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: so, madam speaker, it's come down to this. amusing that perhaps f.d.a. is not the right agency.

2:18:05 to 2:26:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Henry A. Waxman

2:18:24 to 2:18:45( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: we ought to create a brand new one but don't give them any power to do anything. or what we need is harm reduction. even though this legislation gives f.d.a. the ability to look for ways to reduce the harm from cigarette smoking. but the best way, the best way is to not to smoke. and the best way is to make sure that people don't start

2:18:46 to 2:19:06( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: smoking. and if they do smoke to give it up. and the next argument. it's not constitutional. and my colleague has cited the fact that he believes the supreme court when they ruled on the issue of the regulations being proposed by the f.d.a. that they would say that was unconstitutional.

2:19:07 to 2:19:27( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: well, the truth of the matter is, the supreme court said f.d.a. did not have the legal authority and that congress had to vote to give them the legal authority to adopt those regulations. that is what we are about to do today. i have been working on the

2:19:28 to 2:19:50( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: issue of tobacco for over three decades. and in fact i thought about this issue as i prepared a book that's going to be coming out on a lot of different issues in the next couple of weeks. and i remember the hearings we had where the tobacco industry had scientists, so-call scntists argue there really wasn't any harm from cigarette smoking.

2:19:51 to 2:20:13( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: it was just could he incidental. -- it was just coincidental. i remember well when the c.e.o.'s came before our committee and that was a real turning point and they took an oath to tell the truth and they said no harm from cigarette smoking. it's not connected to cancer. it's not connected to heart disease. it's not connected to all these

2:20:14 to 2:20:37( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: other problems. it was only a coincidence. they said cigarette smoking was not addictive because nicotine was not addictive. they swore that under oath. they said they didn't manipulate the nicotine to make addictive a product. and they said with righteous indig nation they certainly

2:20:38 to 2:20:59( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: wouldn't target -- indignaon they certainly wouldn't target kids to smoke. well, after that appearance in 1994 we pierced the veil that hung over the industry and started to find out what they were saying in their own corporate board rooms and what their own scientists understood the case to be.

2:21:00 to 2:21:20( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: we later had a hearing where scientists that worked for the tobacco industry said he understood the harm. the industry wanted to know what harm it did and they knew that in fact it caused a tremendous amount of death and disease in this country. patent new ways to raise the

2:21:21 to 2:21:41( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: nicotine levels so they can keep people smoking because they were very well aware of the fact that nicotine was addictive and they could in fact make sure that nicotine grabbed on to those smokers and kept them captive to that habit. and the joe camel advertising

2:21:42 to 2:22:03( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: campaign was marketed in france to see if it really got kids be loyal to that brand and in their board room they discussed how important it was to get kids to start smoking at 14 or 15 years of age. because then they would be

2:22:04 to 2:22:27( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: loyal to that brand, let alone addicted to the product. we later found out how the tobacco industrypent millions and millions of dollars on a phony operation to say that they were studying whether the harm was there from cigarette smoking and what they did was

2:22:28 to 2:22:48( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: manipulated the media, deceived the american people to argue the science wasn't really there to claim cigarettes was a problem. the science is still out. by the way, we hear this about global warming today. the science isn't -- even though the overwhelming

2:22:49 to 2:23:11( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: consensus was there from reputable scientists, they tried to make people believe, n't wore -- worry about it. you can continue to smoke. it won't do you harm. and they tried successfully for decades to kp secret the fact that nonsmokers were harmed by simply being in the presence of smokers.

2:23:12 to 2:23:32( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: i remember the power the tobacco industry that kept the congress from acting, and was by one vote that the house of representatives decided to try an experiment to see if we could have airplane flights, commercial airplane flights of

2:23:33 to 2:23:53( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: an hour or less without any smoking permitted. and members stood up on the fl smokers would never tolerate such a thing. well, it was so widely popular that it's hard to find any airline in the world that allows smoking on airplane flights of whatever length it

2:23:54 to 2:24:14( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: may be. the public has come to understand this industry, and they know the dishonesty of this industry. and they know that the clout of this industry kept the government from acting for decades. but people now don't realize

2:24:15 to 2:24:35( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: how it was 30 years ago. 30 years ago people who smoked felt they had the right to light up a cigarette no matter where they were. we heard the argument that the court may look at the constitutionality of any free speech matter that might relate

2:24:36 to 2:24:56( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: to cigarette -- to advisories about cigarette smoking. well, it's hard for me to believe that a supreme court that once said the constitution does not mean that the freedom of speech allows people to yell , "fire" in a crowded room would finally come to the point

2:24:57 to 2:25:20( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: where it would be unconstitutional to prohibit an industry from trying to get chilen to smoke a product that's illegal for them to buy i think we are today at the last gasp of the tobacco industry's efforts to protect

2:25:21 to 2:25:41( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: their profits at the expense of the health and lives of the american people and to get children to take up this habit. we're moving aw country. the f.d.a. will help us succeed in the ending this tobacco epidemic.

2:25:42 to 2:26:02( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: my heart goes out to people around the world. as american tobacco companies are telling people in other countries, be like americans. if you're woman, you can smoke. don't let your culture from taking up this habit. as they tell children around the world, start smoking, you

2:26:03 to 2:26:11( Edit History Discussion )

Henry A. Waxman: can more like americans who you so admire. you can be cool and all the stuff that was blabbered out in the de