May 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 5
Add your voice!
Academy pressures Congress to let FDA regulate tobacco industryThe Supreme Court ruled March 21 that Congress has not given the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. Six days later, the Academy pushed Congress to "make it so."
"Only through quick action (by Congress) can we avoid abandonment of tough FDA regulations that, since 1995, have helped keep tobacco products out of the hands of kids," said AAFP Board Chair Lanny Copeland, M.D., of Albany, Ga., in a March 27 letter to each member of Congress.
FDA regulations that may be in jeopardy include requiring photo identification of young people to prevent cigarette sales to minors and restricting the placement of vending machines to adult-only areas.
"It is most unfortunate that the court has ruled against the FDA regulating tobacco," said Copeland in a recent press release. "I see far too many families hurt by the ill effects of smoking: children suffering from respiratory illnesses because of exposure to second-hand smoke, mothers struggling with emphysema, young fathers dying from cancer."
The Academy has posted a sample letter at Speak Out on the AAFP Web site so you can easily e-mail your lawmakers about tobacco control legislation. By mid-April, more than 100 AAFP members had used the sample letter to share their views with Congress.
To open the letter, go to http://capitol.aafp.org/elecmail.html and follow the directions. First-time users of Speak Out may wish to access http://www.aafp.org/gov, click on "directions for first-time users" and print them out as a guide.
You'll notice sample letters on other topics about which you may want to contact Congress: managed care legislation, the Quality Health Care Coalition Act (which would allow physicians to collectively bargain with health plans about patient care issues), the Pain Relief Promotion Act and federal funding for family practice training programs.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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