AAFP urges persistence on tobacco bills
In July, Board Chair Patrick Harr, M.D., of Maryville, Mo., wrote three key figures in the fight to control the tobacco industry by law.
"The current opposition of the industry to the (recently defeated) legislation should make Congress and the administration even more determined to pass a comprehensive bill," Harr wrote to President Bill Clinton; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. McCain had introduced S. 1415, the National Tobacco Policy and Youth Smoking Reduction Act. It failed June 13 in procedural votes, including a 57-43 vote for cloture (60 votes for cloture were necessary to stop debate and have a vote on the bill itself).
"The Academy was dismayed that Senate Republicans were responsible for defeating S. 1415 in the narrow cloture vote," Harr wrote Lott. "As members of both parties, family physicians strongly believe that public health measures must have bipartisan backing."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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