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PrintAs an advocate for the American Heart Association, I want to thank Sen. Claire McCaskill for co-sponsoring the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
Incredibly, our nation’s most preventable cause of death is unregulated by any federal agency that has the required scientific expertise and experience. Deadly products have been sold for generations without federal oversight, putting both young and old at risk for heart disease and stroke. In Missouri, 10,680 residents die each year from tobacco-related illnesses compared to 444,000 Americans each year. Of those tobacco-related deaths, an estimated 35 percent are due to cardiovascular disease. The time has come for Congress to pass legislation placing the tobacco industry under the Food and Drug Administration’s authority.
According to the American Heart Association, the cigarette chemical cocktail – which includes rat poison, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, benzene and ammonia – damages arteries throughout the body once it hits the bloodstream. Clots are more likely to form as a result, causing heart attack or stroke.
Big Tobacco spends $423 million a year in Missouri to promote such dangerous products to adults and teenagers, jeopardizing public health. I want to encourage Congress to follow McCaskill’s lead and support the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
Chris Buckland is a “You’re the Cure” volunteer for the American Heart Association.
Show Me the Errors 
Comments
This bill does absolutely nothing if it doesn't ban cigarettes. If that is your wish, just come out and say it.
Seems to me that the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is a major regulation document.
Perhaps a simpler way to handle this obnoxious product would be to shift responsibility from ATF and give it to the FDA.
In Missouri, 10,680 residents die each year from tobacco-related illnesses............
Aw BS !
Lets see the numbers on that one.
that would be 20% of the population of Columbia.
BS
Joe, for all of Missouri that might be about right. Not just Columbia. It also depends on what they call a tobacco related illness.
Chris, Which rat poison? Sodium arsenate? Warfarin? Red squill?
There's no rat poison in tobacco smoke, and very little of the other compounds you list. The main toxic combustion byproduct is carbon monoxide, which helps cause all the diseases you mention over decades of smoking.
DK
Fact: Tobacco kills. Fact: 25% of Missourians smoke. We should support any program that adresses this major health issue.