CALL IN SCRIPT:  Ask your Senators to Support S. 625, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which would give the
FDA authority to regulate tobacco and tobacco products.

CALL TODAY!

You:  Good Morning/Afternoon, my name is ________________ and I live in (district____________) so I am a constituent of Senator ________. (Mentioning your church affiliation is also helpful). 

I am calling today to find out if Senator___________ is a cosponsor of S. 625, legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco products.  May I speak with the staffer who is working on this legislation?

Staffer:  Yes, Senator_____ is a cosponsor of S. 625.

You:  Please thank Senator___________ for his support of this legislation to give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.  I appreciate his/her cosponsorship.

OR

Staffer:  No, Senator ________ is not a cosponsor of S. 625

You:  I want to strongly encourage Senator_______ to cosponsor S. 625, the bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over the manufacturing, advertising, and marketing of tobacco products.  This bill can end a strange double-standard that has made tobacco, incredibly, one of the least regulated products on the market today.

Every major public health organization, including the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and American Heart Association, strongly supports legislation that gives the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.  If the FDA is given the authority to regulate tobacco products, it can require the tobacco industry to disclose what is in their products, stop them from marketing their deadly and addictive products to children, and require them to remove or reduce harmful ingredients.  (If you have any personal stories from your family/community or would like to say something about your own religious convictions, it would be helpful to state them briefly now.)

Staffer:  Yes, we will be seriously considering supporting this legislation.

You:  Great.  I will be checking back in a couple of weeks to see what Senator___ has decided about S. 625.

Staffer:  Sure, that’s fine.

You:  Thank you for speaking with me today.  I look forward to seeing the outcome!