Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 21, 1995 TAG: 9511210074
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ABINGDON LENGTH: Medium
Virginia Burley Committee Chairman Archie Bailey of Washington County accused the Food and Drug Administration of wanting to prohibit tobacco use in the United States altogether. Bailey called the proposal to shift control of the tobacco industry from Congress to the FDA "another intrusion into our personal lives and our personal preferences."
He also claimed that the proposal to regulate tobacco as a drug would lead to black market criminal activities. "If our people are going to use tobacco, if we can't grow it, many foreign countries are going to grow it and ship it here," he said.
Once the FDA has its foot in the regulatory door, Bailey said, the next thing it will want to regulate is what people are allowed to eat.
The rally at one of Abingdon's tobacco warehouses was one of five organized by tobacco farmers and Philip Morris U.S.A., a tobacco processor and marketer that is the largest U.S. purchaser of burley tobacco. Other rallies were in Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky.
Proposed FDA regulations were announced Aug. 10, and the opportunity to comment on them has been extended to Jan. 2 before the final draft will be written for Congress.
The proposals call for bans on vending machine sales and self-service displays of tobacco; brand-name sports and cultural event sponsorships by tobacco companies; the use of brand names on non-tobacco products such as T-shirts or lighters; the distribution of free tobacco samples; and all outdoor tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of a playground or school.
Another proposal would require tobacco product manufacturers to conduct an annual $150 million TV effort to discourage smoking by people under 18. All cigarette advertising would have to include the phrase "Cigarettes - a nicotine delivery device."
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, unable to attend the rally, said in remarks delivered by Linda DiYorio, his deputy district director, that he opposed investing the FDA with authority to regulate tobacco and was co-sponsoring legislation aimed at stopping that from happening.
He said all 50 states already restrict tobacco purchases by those under 18, and the proposed regulations supposedly aimed at curbing youth smoking would affect adults, too.
Kenneth Reynolds, chairman of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee, said Virginia farmers get about $43 million from tobacco sales each year, with $25 million to $30 million of that coming through the Abingdon markets.
"There's no end to the effect that tobacco income has here in Washington County," he said.
by CNB