STATEMENT: In Support of H.R. 5178, the Smuggled Tobacco Prevention Act of 2010 (STOP Act)

By Gigi Kellett, Director, Campaign Challenging Big Tobacco

For Immediate Release:
May 28, 2010

Contact:
Christina Rossi, 617-447-2540

Thank you Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee for the opportunity to comment on behalf of Corporate Accountability International and our members across the country in support of H.R. 5178, the Smuggled Tobacco Prevention Act of 2010 (the STOP Act). For more than 30 years, Corporate Accountability International has been winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions, working with people and organizations across the United States and around the world.

Corporate Accountability International and our members stand resolutely with Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX) and the 118 co-sponsors in supporting the STOP Act, which contains new and stronger requirements on labeling, tracking and reporting by the tobacco industry.
The United States, once a leader in tobacco control, has fallen out of step with the international community by failing to ratify the global tobacco treaty formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). This treaty aims to reverse an epidemic that claims 5.4 million lives each year and that remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

President Bush signed the treaty in 2004, but never submitted it to the Senate for ratification. While President Obama signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 – a critical step toward ratification and regulation of what has historically been one of the least regulated products in commerce – the U.S. continues to lack protections against illicit tobacco trade.

Illicit tobacco trade undermines tobacco control, generates huge profits for smugglers and tobacco manufacturers, and costs governments billions of dollars in lost tax revenue and expenditures in law enforcement and health care. The STOP Act is an essential stop gap until the U.S. joins the 168 countries that have ratified the global tobacco treaty. Parties to the treaty are negotiating a protocol specifically designed to combat the illicit tobacco trade. Globally, illicit trade represents approximately 10 percent of tobacco sales, and costs governments between U.S. $40 and $50 billion annually in lost revenue. If governments eliminated illicit trade, they would immediately gain at least $31 billion, and from 2030 onwards save over 160,000 lives every year.

There is widespread evidence that tobacco transnationals like Philip Morris International (which until last year was a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Altria Group, Inc.), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco (JT) have benefited from—and even been complicit in—tobacco smuggling. Yet these tobacco giants claim to be committed to fighting smuggling, and have even seek a seat at the table with governments aiming to tackle the problem. Tobacco industry involvement, however, poses the single greatest threat to the implementation of the FCTC’s lifesaving measures and effective enforcement of anti-illicit trade measures.

Big Tobacco continues to make tremendous profits at a huge cost to people’s health and public coffers. In Article 5.3 of the FCTC and the unanimously adopted Article 5.3 implementation guidelines, the World Health Organization recognizes the fundamental and irreconcilable conflict of interest between the tobacco industry and public health. We encourage Committee members to share this concern when addressing the problems associated with illicit tobacco trade. United States law enforcement, relevant federal agencies and customs officials should not partner with the tobacco industry for training or for technical assistance. Such partnerships undermine recently enacted tobacco control policies and those regulations outlined in H.R. 5178 that aim to curb illicit tobacco trade.
This legislation establishes a secure government-controlled database for tracking and tracing the tobacco production and the supply chain. This is an important mechanism for ensuring the integrity and effectiveness of illicit trade legislation and for protecting against tobacco industry interference with the system. The Secretary should consult with the FCTC Secretariat for technical support while developing the operational guidelines, as it would be important for the system to be consistent with the international tracking and tracing system currently under negotiations by the Parties to the FCTC. In addition, an effective tracking and tracing system should not have to rely upon the tobacco industry for information. Regulatory officials should have real-time access to data for tracking purposes and the system should be fully independent of the tobacco industry.

This week, the Committee on Ways and Means has a new opportunity to protect people from tobacco industry abuses and to take an important step toward preventing tobacco smuggling here in the U.S. and globally. We respectfully ask the Committee members to support H.R. 5178.
Mr. Chairman and Honorable Members of the Committee, thank you for your consideration of this important issue. We look forward to supporting your efforts to advance this legislation.

Thank you.