Scientists from the American Council on Science and Health called on both the Clinton White House and Republican candidate Bob Dole to back up their recent statements about their commitment to keeping America's children tobacco-free. Specifically, ACSH noted that both Dole's comments that tobacco control should be left to the states, and the Administration's promise to implement the 1992 "Synar bill"--which pledges $1.5 billion to state governments that enact laws discouraging teenage smoking--will remain meaningless promises so long as states are prevented from taking actions of their own against tobacco, which is currently the case due to the Congressionally imposed warning label, which explicitly pre-empts state actions.
In a recent interview on Larry King Live, Mr. Dole declared that the issue of tobacco regulation "should be left to the states," and criticized President Clinton for not implementing the Synar bill. But the Congressionally mandated immunity from state actions, granted to tobacco in the 1965 labeling act, in fact makes any such state action difficult, if not impossible, to impose. "Quite clearly, Congress has pre-empted state and local governments from further warning consumers about the health hazards of tobacco use and from restricting, in most cases, tobacco advertising in their jurisdiction-the states are handcuffed," noted Clifford Douglas, J.D., president of Tobacco Control Law and Policy Consulting, a law firm specializing in tobacco issues.
ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan commented, "All the media attention given to tobacco as a political issue over the last month--while long overdue--still misses the key point: that the tobacco industry enjoys a special, government-granted protection from accountability that no other industry would ever dream of asking for. I wish at least one reporter would be willing to ask either candidate how he can defend allowing cigarette manufacturers to play by different legal rules than those under which all other industries operate--and that at least one candidate would have the courage to support an end to this exemption, which is the one tobacco-control strategy that would actually work."