Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), one of two physicians in the Senate, says the federal government should outlaw smoking and tobacco products.

Coburn questioned the wisdom of a bill to authorize the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco when the dangers of tobacco are well known.

“What we should be doing is banning tobacco,” Coburn said on the Senate floor on June 2. “Nobody up here has the courage to do that. It is a big business. There are millions of Americans who are addicted to nicotine. And even if they are not addicted to the nicotine, they are addicted to the habit.”

Coburn, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, filed an amendment to H.R.1256, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, that tribes say could allow states to enforce federal tobacco laws on reservations.

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Republican senator seeks to outlaw tobacco (The Hill 6/5)

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