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Date: Friday, Aug. 23, 1996
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jim O'Hara, (301) 443-1130
CHILDREN'S FUTURE AT RISK FROM EPIDEMIC OF TOBACCO USE
President Clinton's initiative to reduce tobacco use by
children is the result of an investigation by the Food and Drug
Administration into industry practices and an extensive review of
successful measures in preventing children from using tobacco
products. After the proposed rule was published on August 11,
1995, the public was invited to comment until January 2, 1996. The
Agency received more than 95,000 different comments, totaling more
than 700,000 pieces of mail. The subsequent review and analysis of
those comments, as well as the Agency's initial work, provide a
solid base for the FDA's measures to reduce access and limit appeal
of tobacco products for children.
Today, an estimated 4.5 million children and adolescents smoke
in the United States, and another 1 million use smokeless tobacco.
Each year, another 1 million young people join the ranks of regular
smokers, and nearly one out of every three young people who smoke
will have their lives shortened from the terrible diseases caused
by smoking.
This public health crisis is worsening. Children are starting
to smoke at younger and younger ages: Today, the average teenage
smoker begins to smoke at 14 1/2 years old and becomes a daily
smoker before age 18. And those children soon regret this loss of
freedom. The Gallup Poll in 1992 found that 70 percent of smokers
between the ages of 12 and 17 regret beginning to smoke and 66
percent want to quit.
Children at Risk
Children are becoming addicted to nicotine. More than 80
percent of all adult smokers had tried smoking by their 18th
birthday and more than half of them had already become regular
smokers by that age. Although only 5 percent of daily smokers
surveyed in high school said they would definitely be smoking
five years later, close to 75 percent were smoking 7 to 9
years later. Of the almost 3,000 young people who become
regular smokers each day, nearly 1,000 of them will have their
lives shortened from tobacco-related diseases.
Costs of Smoking Staggering
Health care costs associated with tobacco use are rising. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that in
1993 the health care costs associated with smoking totaled $50
billion: $26.9 billion for hospital costs; $15.5 billion for
doctors; $4.9 billion in nursing home costs; $1.8 billion for
prescription drugs, and $900 million for home-health care
expenditures. The Office of Technology Assessment calculated
the social costs attributable to smoking in 1990 at $68
billion. The calculation was based on $20.8 billion in direct
health care costs and $6.9 billion in lost productivity from
sickness and disabilities and $40.3 billion in lost
productivity from premature deaths.
Benefits Outweigh Costs
Protecting the future health of our children provides a
benefit that will continue to pay dividends for our society.
The annual benefits from reduced disease caused by smoking are
projected to be $28 to $43 billion. These benefits are
achieved through annual net medical cost savings of $2.6
billion, annual morbidity-related productivity savings of $900
million, and annual benefits of reduced mortality of $24.6 to
$39.7 billion. Under the final rule, manufacturers of tobacco
products are projected to have one-time costs of $78 to $91
million and annual operating costs of $2 million. Retailers
are projected to have one-time costs of $96 million and annual
costs of $78 million, compared to the $45 billion to $50
billion spent annually on tobacco products at the retail
level.
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