Federal Government Receives Failing Grades on Tobacco Control in Annual American Lung Associat...( American Lung Association Calls o...),Health

American Lung Association Calls on Federal, State Leaders to Take Action

and Close the Door on America's Tobacco Epidemic

NEW YORK, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Lung Association's State of Tobacco Control 2007 report, an annual report card on federal and state tobacco control legislation and policies, assigns only Ds and Fs to the federal government, but says 2008 presents an historic opportunity for Congress to make a dramatic impact on tobacco control across America by authorizing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products. Strong, bipartisan legislation is pending in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives that would give the FDA authority over the manufacture, distribution, marketing and use of tobacco products. The report can be accessed online at http://www.stateoftobaccocontrol.org

"The Congress has an unprecedented opportunity in 2008 to pass this life-saving legislation," said Bernadette Toomey, President and CEO of the American Lung Association. "We need leaders to stand up and enact national changes that will prevent lung diseases such as lung cancer and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis." Tobacco-related diseases remain the number-one preventable cause of death in America, killing more than 438,000 Americans each year.

The American Lung Association's State of Tobacco Control 2007 report tracks progress made, ground lost, and issues that have stalled throughout 2007, during which time two major public health reports -- from the President's Cancer Panel and the Institute of Medicine -- heralded the need for the federal and state governments to take urgent action to reduce America's tobacco epidemic. The Lung Association's report card grades each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico on their tobacco control po
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