Altria Group and Philip Morris USA Express Full Support for Senate and House Legislation Providing FDA Regulatory Authority of Tobacco Products

Altria Group, and its domestic tobacco company Philip Morris USA, welcome today the reintroduction of legislation to provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products.  The companies applaud the Senate and House sponsors, Senators Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representatives Tom Davis (R-VA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) for their leadership and ongoing efforts to enact FDA regulation of tobacco products.

"We wholeheartedly support the bipartisan legislation introduced today," said Steven C. Parrish, senior vice president, corporate affairs, Altria Group.  "Our companies commend the sponsors for finding common ground and policy solutions to the many complex issues involving tobacco, and for their tireless efforts to bring all interested stakeholders together to forge a true bipartisan consensus."

Parrish noted the companies' continued commitment in supporting comprehensive, meaningful, and effective FDA regulation of tobacco products.

"Today's Congressional action represents another important step forward in the effort to establish, for the first time, a comprehensive and coherent national tobacco policy in this country," said Michael E. Szymanczyk, chairman and chief executive officer of Philip Morris USA. 

"We support these bills in their entirety because they would, among other things, bring consistency and uniformity to how tobacco products are sold and regulated.  The legislation will also provide a framework and standards for products that could potentially reduce the harm caused by smoking and define the appropriate ways to communicate about these products."

The DeWine/Kennedy and Davis/Waxman FDA bills would greatly benefit consumers, the public health community, and legitimate participants in the tobacco industry and would set in place a wide array of important provisions, including:

• Authority to change the language of the current cigarette health warnings and substantially enlarge their size;
• Full disclosure of ingredients added to tobacco products;
• Authority for the FDA to regulate, or ban, terms such as "light" and "low tar";
• Authority for the FDA to mandate changes in the design of tobacco products to protect the public health, including authority to remove harmful ingredients and smoke constituents;
• Authority for the FDA to do more to prevent minors from using tobacco products;
• Authority to establish standards for products that could potentially reduce the harm caused by smoking and define the appropriate ways to communicate about these products; and
• A ban on the sale of candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes.

Altria Group is the parent company of Kraft Foods, the world's second largest food company, Philip Morris International, the world's leading international cigarette business, and Philip Morris USA, the leading cigarette manufacturer in the United States.  For more information about Altria, its family of companies, and the recently introduced FDA legislation, visit www.altria.com/fda.

Philip Morris USA is an operating company of Altria Group.  For more information about Philip Morris USA, its products, programs and positions on tobacco-related issues, please visit www.philipmorrisusa.com.

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