Tell Your Senator to Protect Kids from Big Tobacco

Why doesn't the government stop tobacco companies from adding toxins to cigarettes and marketing to kids? Because Congress won't let them!

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Ask your U.S. Senator to support important legislation giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority it needs to protect our kids from Big Tobacco.

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Unlike any other consumer product, tobacco products have escaped any health or safety oversight by the government.

Maybe that's why a smoker inhales over 4,000 chemicals in a single cigarette, including arsenic, formaldehyde and ammonia. Or perhaps that's why Big Tobacco continues to market their deadly products to children � and why 90 percent of smokers began in their teens or earlier. For more info about FDA regulation, click here.

Tell your Senator why this issue matters to you! Please add your personal comment below.

Subject:

Dear [Lawmaker]:

Every day in this country, more than 2,000 children become regular smokers.  Roughly one-third of them will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease.  In fact, according to a Center for Disease Control report, more than 90 percent of adult smokers began in their teens or earlier.

Well over one-in-four kids in high school smoke. The tobacco companies spend $9.7 billion a year advertising and marketing per year, or $26.5 million per day. Is it any wonder that 88 percent of youth smokers prefer the three most heavily advertised brands, compared to less than half of smokers over the age of 25.  What does this targeting of our kids mean for our country and our children's future? Premature death, more healthcare dollars for smoking related illness and more premature and low-birth weight babies � just to name a few.

But there is a better way. I am writing to urge you to support bipartisan legislation that would grant the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight over tobacco products. It seems ridiculous to regulate the content and packaging of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese but not of Marlboro Cigarettes when both are made by the same company - Philip Morris.

Unlike the manufacturer of any other product consumed by Americans, tobacco companies have continued to escape even the most basic oversight. For example, tobacco companies are not required to test additives for safety purposes, inform consumers what is in their products or take any action to make their products less harmful or less addictive when it is possible to do so.

One of the most important provisions of this bill will allow the FDA to stop tobacco companies from marketing to children. Some children are becoming addicted to tobacco before they reach junior high school. This is long before they can adequately make rational judgements on the health effects of tobacco use. We must protect them.

Please support meaningful FDA legislation that is supported by public health groups. Good legislation will help stop millions of children from a lifetime of tobacco addiction. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to reading your response.

Sincerely,

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