Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 12:04:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Competitive Enterprise Institute To: Recipients of the CEI List Subject: CEI List: Anti-Smoking Hooks CEI PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release. Contact: Greg Smith or Sam Kazman (202) 331-1010 NICOTINE MAY BE ADDICTIVE, BUT FDA'S ANTI-SMOKING CAMPAIGN HAS ITS OWN HIDDEN HOOKS WASHINGTON DC, July 14--The Competitive Enterprise Institute today charged that FDA's anti-smoking initiative is based on acombination of selective amnesia and child exploitation. CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman stated: "It may well be that the only people in this country who don't think that nicotine is addictive are tobacco industry officials. The public knows all about the risks of smoking, and the only person who refuses to recognize this is David Kessler." In CEI's view, FDA's claim of"nicotine manipulation" is nonsensical. If tobacco companies had artificially lowered nicotine levels, rather than raise them as FDA claims, then the Justice Department would be accusing the industry of scheming to increase cigarette sales by causing smokers to go unsatisfied. Nor were smokers disserved by the allegedly heightened nicotine-tar ratios in low-tar cigarettes;these are simply safer ways for them to obtain nicotine. CEI also pointed out that FDA had deliberately chosen the issue of adolescent smoking as its opening move in attempting to assert jurisdiction over cigarettes. By focusing on children, FDA chose the cleverest way possible to deflect attention from an issue of statutory interpretation--whether Congress's decades-old definition of "drug" in the FDA law was intended to cover tobacco products. CEI noted that, under FDA's approach, the caffeine in coffee and colas would make those products drugs as well. As indicated in an October, 1994, article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Strain et al., "Caffeine Dependence Syndrome"), "caffeine exhibits the features of a typical psychoactive substance of dependence." Given such items as decaf and lite coffees (not to mention high-caffeine Mountain Dew and Jolt), "caffeine manipulation" is a widespread practice. CEI stated that if FDA does decide to regulate tobacco, it would petition the agency to also regulate coffee, colas, and other caffeine-containing products. Mr. Kazman stated: "As a parent, I do not want my children to smoke when they get older. I also don't want them to ride motorcycles or hang-glide. But most of all, I don't want them to grow up thinking that decisions about these activities are to be made not by them, but by some government agency." CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free markets and limited government. _______ ________ __________ / | | | |_______ | | | | \ _______ |_______ __________ COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE 1001 Connecticut Ave. NW #1250 Washington, DC 20036 202-331-1010, fax 202-331-0640 Permission to reprint must be obtained from the publishing journal listed above. Permission to copy granted as long as these lines are left intact. To subscribe to the cei list, send a message to CEI@digex.com. "The Virtual Hand: CEI's free-market guide to the information superhighway" is available for $5. CEI's monthly newsletter, "CEI UpDate," is free to contributors of $25.