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Rep. Waxman has been the leading spokesperson on Capitol Hill for tobacco regulation since early in his congressional career. In the 1980s, he conducted dozens of hearings on the hazards of smoking and the tobacco industry’s marketing practices. These hearings contributed to a vast change in public opinion about smoking and led to the first reform of tobacco warning labels.
Because tobacco still kills over 400,000 Americans every year and more than 1,000 children start smoking every day, Rep. Waxman continues his fight against the tobacco industry's practices of deceit and misrepresentation. To halt the manipulation of children into using this dangerous product, he has authored the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to impose meaningful and long overdue oversight on the manufacture, promotion and sale of tobacco.
From 1979 to 1994, Rep. Waxman served as Chairman of the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health and the Environment. To help focus public attention on the dangers of tobacco, Rep. Waxman invited movie stars and celebrities to appear before his committee. These hearings contributed to the vast change in public opinion about smoking. Other hearings by the Subcommittee exposed the secret activities of the tobacco industry, both through the testimony of industry insiders and internal tobacco company documents.
View more information about the landmark hearings and legislation introduced during this time.
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