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Tobacco Lobby - RCJ
Would you fly with an airline whose
jumbo jets crash at least four times a day, killing all of
it’s passengers? If this were truly the case, don’t you
think our government would take control of the industry and
shut them down in order to save lives?
One example of an industry, with very
little political influence, where our government felt it was
necessary to intervene----was the asbestos industry.
Asbestos fibers are believed to affect our health if
inhaled. The US spent billions of dollars removing asbestos
from our public buildings, spending well over one million
dollars for every life saved.
The reality is there is another
industry that makes a product which kills at least 1,600
people a day, equivalent to 4 jumbo jet crashes. It costs
our society well over 100 billion dollars in expenses each
year. If this product where introduced as a new product on
the market today, it would never be approved or allowed.
Of course I am talking about tobacco.
Every day, we read new headlines proclaiming the dangers of
this deadly and addictive product. We are just beginning to
realize the effects of how second hand smoke related
illnesses are overwhelming our population. What role does
our government have in controlling this very large and
powerful industry?
In the past, Big Tobacco mainly focused
their influence at the national level. They still spend
millions of dollars each year on tobacco lobbyist in order
to protect their interest. This does not include the nearly
$14 million in an 11 year period in PAC contributions to
senate and congressional candidates. Big Tobacco is by far
the largest contributor of “soft money” as well,
contributing nearly $13 million to Republican national party
committees and $3 million to Democratic nation party
committees. Sadly, this is another form of addiction
resulting in a “PAC” a day habit for many of our
politicians.
The dollars donated to candidates does
not necessarily translate into votes. It does however buy
access to congressional leaders and other members. This
access results in watered-down legislation on any bill
attempting to protect the public health.
The Tobacco lobby has also been very
active in our own state and once again they have found a way
to undermine the work of local tobacco control efforts.
Their strategy has been to weaken clean indoor air laws and
to oppose any bill that would restore the ability of local
communities to address tobacco use and addiction at the
local level. In 1995, a provision was placed into law
(Preemption) stating that cities and counties are forbidden
from developing or enforcing more stringent tobacco control
measures.
Because of their power and influence in
South Dakota, it has been very difficult to effectively pass
legislation. For example, we are attempting to repeal the
preemption law (Senate Bill 137) which would allow us
to fight at a local level as it is much more difficult for
the tobacco industry to fight locally. The public generally
has a deep distrust of Big Tobacco and we are less likely to
be influenced by their power and money.
It has been even more difficult to
prohibit smoking in public places (Senate Bill 118)
despite all of the evidence accumulating in the medical
literature on the harmful effects of second hand smoke.
Despite this public health concern on the effects of second
hand smoke on children and in the workplace, the South
Dakota Senate narrowly passed SB118 last week by one vote.
This bill should have passed without a problem but again,
this is just another example of how infuencal Big Tobacco is
on our lawmakers. SB 118 now goes to the House for their
review.
We are now at the point in the
legislative session where these two bills are being
discussed. It will take a grassroots effort to get the job
done. Please contact your state lawmakers and ask them to
support SB 118 in order to reduce exposure to secondhand
smoke in worksites and public places. Also, ask them to
support SB 137 in order to allow local control of tobacco.
You can contact your lawmaker by calling the Senate
lobby---605-773-3821 or the House lobby---605-773-3851.
“We
could never win at the local level... So the Tobacco
Institute and tobacco companies’ first priority has always
been to preempt the field, preferably to put it all on the
federal level, but if they can’t do that, at least on the
state level."
--
Victor L. Crawford, Former Tobacco Institute Lobbyist,
Journal of the American Medical Association, 7/19/95
Content
of articles can only be used with writer attribution to Dr.
Kevin Weiland.
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