The market for cigarettes is maintained by marketing products to young people who can replace those smokers who die or quit. As a result of these tactics, the tobacco industry creates a lifetime of health problems and health costs for these children, and they should be held accountable. Mr. Chairman, this amendment will strengthen veterans' health care, and I urge our colleagues to support it. This amendment will allow the Department of Justice to pursue its lawsuit against the tobacco companies and seek to recover billions of dollars in health care expenditures that tobacco has cost federal taxpayers. Or will we vote to protect Big Tobacco and once again allow the tobacco companies to escape legal responsibility for all the harm they have caused.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of premature death in the United States.
Over 430,000 premature deaths each year are a result of smoking related illnesses including chronic lung disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke as well as cancer of the lungs, larynx, esophagus, mouth, and bladder. This accounts for one out of five deaths, and twice the number of deaths caused by AIDS, alcohol, motor vehicles, homicide, drugs, and suicide combined. Smoking causes or contributes to a variety of debilitating physical and medical problems. Chronic coughing, emphysema, and bronchitis are products of smoking, and smokers are more susceptible to influenza. Smokers are more likely to suffer from periodontal disease.