Tobacco on Road Toward Regulation

By Erica Werner, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The House is poised to thrust tobacco companies under government control after years of attempts in legislatures and the courts to tame one of the country's signature industries.

"We cannot and we must not wait a moment longer to protect our children from this killer," Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said as lawmakers began debate Wednesday evening on landmark legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration authority for the first time to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Passage of the bill was expected this morning.

Opponents contended that the legislation would hurt the economy and that the FDA wasn't up to the job.

"The last thing we should be doing is force the FDA to regulate an inherently dangerous product," said Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind.

Senate action would still be required, as well as President Barack Obama's signature, but supporters said both those pieces were in place. They pointed to strong backing from the White House - where Obama has spoken of his own struggles to kick the cigarette habit - and an increased Democratic majority in a Senate that's already shown itself inclined to support the bill.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act would amount to the biggest change ever in the government's approach toward tobacco, which has remained largely hands-off even as the health hazards have become increasingly clear.

Although the FDA wouldn't be allowed to ban nicotine or tobacco, the agency would be able to regulate the contents of tobacco products, make public their ingredients, prohibit flavoring, require much larger warning labels and control marketing campaigns .

"This would be the most significant tobacco bill the Congress of the United States has ever enacted," said Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "It would bring about fundamental change."

The FDA has come under criticism amid a series of health scares, and opponents said the agency was already overburdened and couldn't handle the job of regulating another big industry. U.S. tobacco production was valued at $1.3 billion in 2007.

Opponents also argued that the bill by Rep. Henry Waxman, D- Calif., was unrealistically aimed at ending smoking altogether and wouldn't allow nicotine addicts to learn of alternatives like smokeless tobacco. Supporters of the bill disputed that claim.

Adult tobacco users who have not quit "should be encouraged to move from tobacco products with higher risks to those with lower risks," said Maura Payne, spokeswoman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Buyer was offering an alternate bill that would encourage development of less-harmful tobacco products and leave the FDA out of the process.

Although the FDA wouldn't be allowed to ban nicotine or tobacco, the agency would be able to regulate the contents of tobacco products, make public their ingredients, prohibit flavoring, require much larger warning labels and control marketing campaigns, especially those geared toward children.

Originally published by BY ERICA WERNER.

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