Alright, the thread is almost dead. You can talk to Dr. Feel in private now. You claim that you are undecided and need help making up your mind whether to support Tobacco Control or not. How can I help you?
Posted on 07/23/2007 2:27:03 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo, Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today introduced legislation to wipe out tobacco use in America through an innovative cap-and-trade program that will shrink the size of the tobacco market over the next 20 years.
“Tobacco kills. We need new ideas to get people to stop smoking, or better yet, never to start,” Enzi said. “That’s what my legislation does. My bill contains a novel cap-and-trade program that will guarantee that fewer people suffer the deadly consequences of smoking, while providing flexibility in how those reductions are achieved.”
“Cap-and-trade programs have a proven track record in the environmental arena, particularly in addressing acid rain. My tobacco plan is based on the successful program in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. This system achieved the desired results faster and at lower cost than had been anticipated. The same can be done for tobacco,” Enzi said.
The cap-and-trade program will reduce the adverse health effects of tobacco use through reductions in the size of the US tobacco market to fewer than 2 percent of the population over 20 years. Tobacco manufacturers would be required to meet specific user level limits by specified deadlines and the plan would set up a market share allocation and transfer system in which allowances could be used, banked, traded, or sold freely on the open market.
The Enzi proposal, the “Help End Addiction to Lethal Tobacco Habits Act” (HEALTH Act), would also close loopholes in the law that tobacco companies have exploited and enjoyed for far too long. It would use proven approaches to help people stop using tobacco products and implement tried and true prevention programs.
“Some have suggested that FDA regulation of tobacco is the way toward safer tobacco products. But we know that there is no such thing as a safe cigarette,” Enzi said. “Proposals to have FDA regulate tobacco are a misguided attempt to force a deadly product into the regulatory structure developed for drugs and devices – products which DO have health benefits. The Democrat’s deadly scheme for tobacco would be very costly, and would not result in much of a health benefit. We can do better.”
The Help End Addiction to Lethal Tobacco Habits Act (HEALTH Act)
Title I: Raising the bar on our knowledge
· Removes an outdated provision that allows manufacturers to shield from the government which ingredients are in which tobacco products.
· Modernizes and standardizes testing methods for measuring and reporting nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
· Strengthens warning labels on packages – changes to bold warnings with color graphics – a strategy that has been proven to work in the EU and Canada .
Title II: Determining who uses tobacco
· Consolidates multiple overlapping surveys on tobacco use to gather the necessary data to monitor the baseline and reductions under Title III.
Title III: Reducing the number of tobacco users
· Creates a cap-and-trade program to reduce the adverse health effects of tobacco use through reductions in annual size of the US tobacco market from 2006 levels.
· Requires compliance by tobacco manufacturers with specific user level limitations by specified deadlines.
· Sets up a market share allocation and transfer system. Allowances can be used, banked, traded, or sold freely on the open market.
· The number of allowances decreases each year, ultimately resulting in fewer than 2% of the population using tobacco, versus nearly 21% today – a 90% reduction.
Title IV: Increasing the tobacco excise tax
· Increases the tobacco excise tax based on the relative risk of products (see Title V for information on risk classification).
· Distributes the revenue as follows: 50% to Medicare, 25% to Medicaid, and 25% to tobacco control and prevention. This maintains the tight link between tobacco tax policy and tobacco health policy.
Title V: Encouraging tobacco control and prevention, and smoking cessation
· Establishes an FDA panel to classify tobacco products or groups of products by risk.
· Gives FDA explicit authority to ban nicotine.
· Creates a program of counter-advertising, conducted by HHS, and funded from the 25% for control and prevention in Title IV.
· Closes a loophole in Medicare and Medicaid to provide coverage for smoking cessation, regardless of whether the beneficiary has a diagnosed smoking-related illness.
· Enhances the Federal match under Medicaid for states that meet the CDC recommended levels of MSA funds spent on tobacco control and prevention.
What is “cap-and-trade”?
Cap and trade is an administrative approach used to control something, historically a pollutant, by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of that pollutant. Cap-and-trade programs have a proven track record in the environmental arena, the most dramatic success story being the control of acid rain in the 1990s. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 instituted a system of allowances for emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides that could be used, banked, traded or sold freely on the open market. The number of allowances decreased each year. This system achieved the desired air quality improvements faster and at lower cost than had been anticipated.
In cap and trade programs, the government sets a limit or cap on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. The cap provides the standard by which progress is measured, and it creates an artificial scarcity. Companies or other groups that emit the pollutant are given allowances to emit a specific amount. The total amount of allowances is fixed and cannot exceed the cap, limiting total national emissions. The allowances then have value, due to the artificial scarcity created. The cap is lowered over time - aiming towards a national emissions reduction target.
Companies must hold a sufficient number of allowances to cover their emissions, or face heavy penalties. A source that reduces its emissions below its allowance level may sell the extra allowances to another source. A source that finds it more expensive to reduce emissions below allowable levels may buy (trade) allowances from another source. Buyers and sellers may “bank” any unused allowances for future use. This system reduces emissions at the lowest possible cost to society.
In some cap and trade systems, organizations which do not pollute may also buy allowances. For example, environmental groups could purchase and retire allowances to reduce emissions and raise the price of the remaining credits – the laws of supply and demand in action.
Cap and trade systems leverage the power of markets to deal with pollution. While the cap is set by a political process, individual companies are free to choose how, when or if they will reduce their emissions. Firms will choose the least-costly way to comply, creating incentives to reduce the cost of achieving a pollution reduction goal. Cap and trade systems are easier to enforce than traditional “command and control” bureaucratic approaches because the government overseeing the market does not need to regulate specific practices of each source.
Cap-and-trade systems guarantee reductions, and companies are given time and flexibility to meet the targets. Sources have flexibility to decide when, where and how to reduce emissions. Making the power of the market work to achieve our policy goals just makes sense.
Alright, the thread is almost dead. You can talk to Dr. Feel in private now. You claim that you are undecided and need help making up your mind whether to support Tobacco Control or not. How can I help you?
In response to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids' public charge that Senator Enzi is a fraud who is apparently not sincere about his own proposal to reduce tobacco use, Senator Enzi criticized the Campaign for cutting a secret deal with Philip Morris that protects Big Tobacco profits at the expense of the public's health.
In addition, he has invited the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to talk, become familiar with his position on tobacco issues, and work together to forge a tobacco policy proposal that will be effective in reducing tobacco use.
In his letter to the Campaign, Senator Enzi contrasted his open approach with what he intimates is a lack of honesty, forthrightness, and openness by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Enzi wrote: "You recently made some comments about my record and my position on various issues relating to tobacco. You claimed to know where I stand on these matters. A meeting between us would give me an opportunity to personally set the record straight and let you know where I stand on smoking and other related tobacco issues. I have put my name, and staked my reputation, on a proposal to get rid of tobacco once and for all, and I hope you will take that as seriously as I do."
"Let me be very clear, right from the start, on exactly what my position is. I stand for bringing innovative and new thinking to old and unsolved problems. I stand for helping current tobacco users quit their deadly habit, and making sure that others, particularly children and adolescents, do not start in the first place. I stand apart from the tobacco companies on these matters and I have never taken a dime in campaign contributions from the tobacco industry, and that is not going to change."
"Finally, in contrast to your organization, which cut a deal in the dead of night with the largest tobacco company in the country, I stand for an open debate and an honest and forthright discussion on these issues and the future of tobacco in the United States."
"I believe my plan has the potential to radically change how we tackle tobacco use in this country. But I also recognize that it is not perfect. I welcome your input and insight into improving it. I hope you will join me in working to eliminate the use of this deadly product. Please contact my office at your earliest convenience so that we can clear the air between us, and then get down to the vital task that is before us of truly saving lives."
This was courtesy of Dr. Michael Siegels' blog. Like I said there and said here, my guess is that Sen. Enzi's MO is to shine a light on the cockroaches in Tobacco Control and watch them scurry for cover. It will be interesting to see how they react.
To be continued...
This is hardly the smoking gun but it is interesting. Enzi’s 2nd biggest campaign cash contributor was in fact the Pharmaceutical industry. “Health Professionals” were #4. Nothing damning there per se. Pretty typical for a “conservative” Republican who opposes Universal Healthcare and is in favor of tort reform which benefits both pharma and doctors.
The top industries supporting Mike Enzi are:
1 Securities & Investment $155,761
2 Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $128,038
3 Insurance $114,822
4 Health Professionals $100,053
5 Commercial Banks $97,450
6 Oil & Gas $81,250
7 Accountants $80,011
8 Computers/Internet $65,504
9 Lobbyists $62,126
10 Mining $49,700
11 Retail Sales $47,500
Thanks for the ping!
We the SHEEPLE!
absolutely
Well, maybe if it was a small enough garage :-)
baa
baaa
just practicing.
What will they ever move the taxes too...
Look out big soda.
Wipe out tobacco in America? That will never happen. The government is too addicted to cigarette tax revenues. Besides, the government wants you to smoke so that you die before turning 65.
The joke is on the Gubmint. My uncles all smoke and they are in their 70's and still collecting entitlement benefits courtesy of the taxpayers generosity.
Ban tobacco already. Let the rest of the citizens smell the fetid breath of tyranny in their face when they go to a pizza joint.
I walked in for a slice of pizza today for lunch. I stared at the “No smoking” sign on the way in, and then found two guys who were pushing 3 bills bellying up to the counter for another order.
I could almost smell the type 2 diabetes, hypogylcemia and high blood pressure from across the room. I saw the reason why my taxes are so high to pay for Medicare and Medicaid and why my health insurance premiums are exhorbitant to pay for their meds.
Second hand obesity. We’re all paying for it. The Gubmint should do something.
TChris wrote: Should a smoker with a non-smoking spouse and children be OK to chain-smoke all day long with the windows closed, as his infant daughter plays nearby in a playpen?
___________________________________
What about People who don’t have children or non-smoking spouses?
My husband and I both smoke cigarettes, no children or non-smokers around - this bill will effect us and trample on our rights.
We also BBQ and have a fireplace that emit smoke that does reach children in the neighborhood 2/10th of a mile away.
Smoke is smoke, are you in favor of banning those activities too? http://burningissues.org/car-www/index.html
Off the books, too! Should at least triple the cash flow for black budget programs.
‘’Off the books, too! Should at least triple the cash flow for black budget programs.’’
I see you understand how the world goes round.
Gee lady... loosen up... have a drink... :D
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