Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 Biden's fiscal program: What is the likely market impact? McConnell accuses Democrats of sowing division by 'downplaying progress' on election security MORE questioned whether cigarettes should be legal on Sunday.

"Cigarettes are causing cancer, obviously, and a dozen other diseases," he said on NBC's "Meet The Press."

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"And there is almost the question as to why it remains a legal product in this country."

Sanders also slammed a proposed soda tax in Philadelphia that would help pay for pre-kindergarten programs. The proposal is backed by rival Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhat Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies Bipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death Trump carries on with rally, unaware of Ginsburg's death MORE, and his criticism came days ahead of the Pennsylvania primary.

The Vermont senator called it a "regressive tax" and said he doesn't think someone who is making $20,000 a year should have to pay 30 cents more for a bottle of soda. Instead, he suggested the mayor raise the money for universal pre-K in a "way that's progressive."

But when "Meet The Press" host Chuck Todd noted that if Sanders is against the tax on soda, he must also be against a tax on cigarettes, Sanders rejected the claim.

"No, I'm not," he said. "There's a difference between cigarettes and soda."