MEDIA ADVISORY, Friday, August 17, 2007
CONTACT: Yoni Cohen, Stark (202) 225-3202

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Pete Stark (D-CA), Chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, issued the following remarks in response to yesterday's release of the annual report of the President's Cancer Panel.

Among other things, the report calls for an increase in the federal tobacco tax as an effective means of reducing the risk of cancer. The President opposes such an increase and has threatened to veto legislation that has passed both the House and the Senate to increase the federal tax.

The Panel’s findings show how efforts to combat cancer in the U.S. are often compromised by Federal, state, and local policies that have decreased the availability and affordability of healthy foods, limited physical education in schools, and allowed the food, beverage, and tobacco industries to operate without sufficient oversight.

“The President’s own advisors have called for an increase in the federal tobacco tax as a means of reducing the risk of cancer. This is quite a coup given that the President carefully screens scientific experts to assure they agree with his positions. I hope the President heeds their recommendations and finally joins in the fight to eliminate this terrible disease.”

The President's Cancer Panel's annual report is available at http://www.house.gov/stark/news/110th/pressreleases/2007-08/17cancer.pdf