PRINTER'S NO. 149
No. 16 Session of 1983
INTRODUCED BY SAURMAN, J. L. WRIGHT, MICHLOVIC, STEVENS,
GREENWOOD, SHOWERS, PRATT, B. SMITH, MERRY, MRKONIC,
ALDERETTE, WOZNIAK AND REBER, FEBRUARY 7, 1983
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL-STATE-RELATIONS,
FEBRUARY 8, 1983
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing Congress to begin a phaseout of the tobacco
2 support program.
3 WHEREAS, More than 250,000 deaths related to cigarette
4 smoking occur annually; and
5 WHEREAS, Cigarette smoking related health hazards have been
6 implicated in 80% of lung cancer cases and cases of emphysema;
7 are a major factor in most cases of oral cancer and cancers of
8 the larynx, pharynx and bladder; and are a major hazard for
9 women who use oral contraceptives; and
10 WHEREAS, There is a need to protect the right of nonsmokers
11 to breathe air uncontaminated by tobacco smoke and for
12 nonsmokers to be free of the hazard to their health created by
13 breathing the smoke of others; and
14 WHEREAS, Fewer adults are smoking today while more cigarettes
15 are being consumed than ever before reflecting a higher
16 percentage of teenage smokers, especially young women; and
17 WHEREAS, Despite the Federal Government's own findings and
1 warnings about the hazards of cigarette smoking, it has done
2 little concerning such hazards; and
3 WHEREAS, A major Federal initiative is required to reduce the
4 death toll and to reduce the number of premature deaths and
5 suffering related to cigarette smoking; and
6 WHEREAS, While revenue from tobacco products in 1976 totaled
7 about $12,000,000,000, the habit costs smokers, their families
8 and society $18,000,000,000 in medical and hospital bills and
9 lost wages, resulting in a net loss of $6,000,000,000; and
10 WHEREAS, Smokers should be required to bear a greater part of
11 the cost of their habit and the subsidy of smokers by nonsmokers
12 is unjust; therefore be it
13 RESOLVED (the Senate concurring), That the General Assembly
14 of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize the Congress of
15 the United States to begin at once a phaseout of the tobacco
16 support program to reach zero in five years.
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