I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1853

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the reduction

and eventual elimination of nicotine in tobacco products.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 15, 1995

Mr. MEEHAN (for himelf and Mr. HANSEN) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to

require the reduction and eventual elimination of nicotine

in tobacco products.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom From Nico5 tine Addiction Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Tobacco use remains the largest preventable

9 cause of illness and premature death in the United
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1 States, responsible for the unnecessary deaths of

2 more than 419,000 Americans each year.

3 (2) Tobacco is a uniquely harmful product in

4 that it kills if used as intended.

5 (3) The United States health care system ex6 penditures due directly to smoking totals $50 billion

7 a year. The United States economy loses $47 billion

8 a year in productivity due to smoking.

9 (4) The 1988 report of the United States Sur10 geon General concluded that cigarettes and other

11 forms of tobacco are addicting, that nicotine is the

12 drug in tobacco that causes addiction, and that the

13 pharmacologic and behavioral processes that deter14 mine tobacco addiction are similar to those that de15 termine addiction to heroin and cocaine.

16 (5) The 1994 report by the United States Sur17 geon General concluded that the nicotine in tobacco

18 products is responsible for the rapid addiction of up

19 to half of all children who experiment with tobacco.

20 (6) Among adults in the United States who

21 have ever smoked daily, 91 percent tried their first

22 cigarette and 77 percent became daily smokers be23 fore they were 20 years old.
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1 (7) Nicotine addicts over 3,000 children each

2 day into an activity which eventually will kill approximately 1 3 ⁄2 of them.

4 (8) The current Commissioner of Food and

5 Drugs has labeled tobacco a pediatric disease.

6 (9) A senior research scientist for one of the

7 largest cigarette manufacturers in the United States

8 has observed: ‘‘The primary incentive to cigarette

9 smoking is the immediate salutary effect of inhaled

10 smoke upon body function . . . The physiological ef11 fect serves as the primary incentive; all other incen12 tives are secondary . . . Think of the cigarette pack

13 as a storage container for a day’s supply of nicotine

14 . . . Think of the cigarette as a dispenser for a dose

15 unit of nicotine . . . Think of a puff of smoke as

16 the vehicle of nicotine.’’.

17 (10) The use of tobacco products continues to

18 be widespread, in spite of increased awareness of

19 their lethal nature, because nicotine which is the sin20 gle, removable substance in tobacco that causes ad21 diction in children and reinforces that addiction in

22 adults.

23 (11) Tobacco manufacturers have the capability

24 to remove all or virtually all of the nicotine from
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1 their tobacco products using technology already in

2 existence.

3 (12) Nicotine destroys the freedom of millions

4 of children and adults in the United States to choose

5 whether or not to continue using tobacco products.

6 SEC. 3. REGULATION.

7 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 201 of the Federal Food,

8 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321) is amended by

9 adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(gg) The term ‘tobacco product’ means any ciga11 rette, cigar, little cigar, pipe tobacco, fine cut tobacco, or

12 any smokeless tobacco product.

13 ‘‘(hh) The term ‘nicotine’ includes any substance that

14 has pharmacologic activity similar to nicotine.’’.

15 (b) REDUCTION IN NICOTINE.—Chapter V of the

16 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is amended—

17 (1) in the title by adding at the end ‘‘AND TO18 BACCO PRODUCTS’’, and

19 (2) by adding after subchapter C the following:

20 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER D—TOBACCO PRODUCTS

21 ‘‘REGULATION OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS

22 ‘‘SEC. 545. (a) It shall be unlawful to introduce or

23 deliver for introduction into interstate commerce any to24 bacco product that is adulterated.
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1 ‘‘(b) A tobacco product shall be considered adulter2 ated if it contains nicotine in a quantity per cigarette ex3 ceeding the following:

4 ‘‘As of January 1, 1997, 10.00 mg. nicotine.

5 ‘‘As of January 1, 1998, 8.00 mg. nicotine.

6 ‘‘As of January 1, 1999, 6.00 mg. nicotine.

7 ‘‘As of January 1, 2000, 4.00 mg. nicotine.

8 ‘‘As of January 1, 2001, 2.00 mg. nicotine.

9 ‘‘As of January 1, 2002, .05 mg. nicotine.

10 ‘‘(c) The Secretary shall prescribe a reduction in the

11 nicotine in tobacco products other than cigarettes which

12 is comparable to the reduction required by subsection (b).

13 Such reduction shall be published in the Federal Register.

14 Such a tobacco product shall be considered adulterated if

15 it contains nicotine in a quantity exceeding the quantity

16 prescribed by the Secretary.’’.

17 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 301 of the Federal

18 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C 331) is amended

19 by adding at the end the following:

20 ‘‘(v) The introduction or delivery for introduction into

21 interstate commerce of an adulterated tobacco product.’’.

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