Did you know that 3 million Americans under age 18 consume 947 million packs of cigarettes a year?
Or that nearly 19 percent of high school seniors smoke daily, 11 percent of them more than a half pack per day?Or that smoking by youngsters adds $221 million to the profits of tobacco companies every year?
These facts constitute strong ammunition for the tough model legislation for states outlined Thursday by U.S. Secretary of Health Louis Sullivan.
So do the facts that up to 90 percent of adults who smoke started before they were 19 . . . about 16 percent of illegal cigarette sales to minors come from vending machines . . . and state laws banning cigarette sales to minors are poorly enforced.
Among other reforms, Sullivan wants the states to license tobacco retailers, fine those who let minors get cigarettes and ban cigarette vending machines. After all, as Sullivan notes, "You can't buy beer from a vending machine. Why should you be able to purchase cigarettes there?"
As tough as the proposed new restrictions would be, they aren't nearly as stringent as the situation warrants.
For openers, how about eliminating the federal subsidy that pays farmers for producing a product responsible for lung cancer and heart disease?
How about amending the Internal Revenue code to eliminate corporate income tax deductions for the expenses of advertising this pernicious product?
How about a stiff increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes in an effort to discourage consumption and help balance the budget?
How about bringing tobacco under the regulation of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration? Like the other drugs regulated by the DEA, tobacco is addictive, too.
And how about defining tobacco as a chemical substance to be regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act? If tobacco products were not exempt from this law, the Environmental Protection Agency would be required to evaluate the safety of chemicals emitted by tobacco products. This would for the first time require public disclosure of the type and levels of chemical constituents in tobacco smoke. Such information is now treated as a trade secret.
An industry whose products threaten lives, particularly young lives, does not deserve to have its secrets protected or its work subsidized. The model legislation outlined this week by Sullivan should be considered just the start of efforts to get tough with the tobacco merchants.