May 24, 2007
Statement attributable to:
Ron Davis, MD
AMA President-Elect
"The American Medical Association (AMA) applauds today's Institute
of Medicine (IOM) report that calls on state and federal governments to implement
more aggressive policies to reduce tobacco use in the U.S.
"Among its recommendations, the IOM report calls for FDA authority to regulate the manufacture, sale, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products. The AMA continues to urge Congress to pass legislation to authorize effective FDA regulation of tobacco products, which would end the cruel irony that cigarettes are the most important preventable cause of death and disease in the United States and one of the least regulated products in our society.
"We also strongly support the report's call for complete statewide indoor smoking bans, higher tobacco taxes to discourage people from smoking, and increased funding for programs to help smokers quit. Every year, 440,000 Americans die from diseases caused by tobacco use, and another 50,000 die from the effects of secondhand smoke.”
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