Tobacco-tax hike urged to fund U.S. cancer fight

WASHINGTON (AP) — To aid the fight against cancer, the federal government should increase taxes on tobacco products and strictly regulate sales and marketing of tobacco, says an advisory panel to the president.

Both recommendations, part of a report released Thursday, place the panel at odds with President Bush.

The administration's position is that tax increases to fund spending increases are inadvisable. Also, giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco could give consumers the impression that the government was giving an unsafe product its stamp of approval, the administration has argued.

The President's Cancer Panel has three members. It was established in 1971. It is charged with monitoring the nation's efforts to eliminate cancer and meets at least four times a year.

This year's report is longer and more far-reaching than past reports, which customarily focus on one aspect of cancer. This report looked at the impact of both obesity and smoking on cancer.

The panel noted that 2007 brought about the steepest decline in cancer deaths ever reported. Yet, more than a half million Americans will die from cancer this year, and nearly two-thirds of those deaths could have been avoided through changes in lifestyle.

The panel said efforts to reduce cancer are often compromised by government policies that decrease the availability of healthy foods and limit physical education.

To reverse those trends, schools should reinstate physical education at meaningful levels from kindergarten through senior year, the panel said, saying that schools should also replace unhealthy foods in cafeterias and vending machines.

While few segments of society were spared from a critical review, the focus on tobacco in this year's report was particularly intense.

"The panel recommends foremost that the influence of the tobacco industry — particularly on America's children — be weakened through strict Federal regulation of tobacco products and marketing," their letter to the president said.

The panel's members include Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., Lance Armstrong and Margaret L. Kripke. They called on lawmakers to have the "political will" to change policies contributing to obesity and tobacco use.

Among the changes lawmakers should undertake are a refusal to accept campaign donations from the tobacco industry.