Thank you very much for the question. This piece of legislation is important, in the Department of Health's view, because it will allow the federal system to catch up with the patchwork that exists across the country and establish clear national standards that would apply in all jurisdictions. Right now some jurisdictions are actually ahead of the federal government, and we do have that variation; this would ensure national consistency, both for smokers and for the industry as it moves forward, and would help deal with the patchwork that currently exists.
On June 9th, 2009. See this statement in context.