Democrats Bash Gop On Smoking

A group of Democratic Senators said Wednesday that the GOP-dominated Congress is helping tobacco companies “to hook young people on cigarettes” by opposing federal regulation of tobacco.

Listening to a parade of ex-smokers, former tobacco industry employees and a 12-year-old smoker, the Democrats pledged support for the Food and Drug Administration’s new regulations designed to reduce the number of teenage smokers.

“I saw people smoking on TV shows, when we went out to eat, driving down the street on billboards and in stores I would always see tobacco advertisements, especially Joe (Camel) for Camel cigarettes and I always thought it looked kind of cool,” said 12-year-old Justin Hoover of West Des Moines, Iowa. The boy said he had his first cigarette at six and can’t quit.

“Joe Camel is just as recognizable to 6-year-olds as Mickey Mouse,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, holding up T-shirts and mugs emblazoned with the cartoon camel.

“If there were ever any doubt in anyone’s mind that their goal is to hook young people, I show you this and I rest my case.”

Harkin said the Joe Camel items are “designed for one purpose and one purpose only - to hook young people on smoking.”

But Michael York, a lawyer for cigarette maker Philip Morris Co., said the Marlboro gear criticized by the senators for its appeal to youth is available only to people 21 and older.

Republican Sen. Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina issued a statement calling the anti-smoking hearing on Capitol Hill “political theater.”