Proposed tobacco regulation may do more harm than good

Posted on Mar 05, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Law, Products, Research

Now that Bush is out of the White House and Congress is in Democratic hands, the tobacco industry has much to fear from a resumption of a 40-year legislative campaign to reduce tobacco use in the country and to protect non-smokers in public areas.

Josh Mitteldorf, a senior editor at OpEdNews, says tobacco control legislation introduced to Congress this week by Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA) is weak and restrictive, and that an alternative bill introduced by Congressmen Steve Buyer (R-IN) and Mike McIntyre (D-NC) is clean tobacco control with no restrictions to slow future progress.

Legislation was introduced to Congress this week by Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA) that would subject tobacco products to regulation by the FDA. This sounds like a good thing, coming from a revered public health advocate. The truth is that if cigarettes were evaluated by the same safety standards that FDA routinely applies to other products for human consumption, cigarettes would be immediately banned. That’s not how things will proceed under HR 1256.

The bill represents a compromise between Philip Morris and some of the more ‘reasonable’ anti-tobacco groups, including Center for Tobacco-Free Kids and the American Cancer Society. These organizations have a history of promoting legislation that offers incremental progress immediately in exchange for guarantees that block more comprehensive restrictions long into the future.

Specifically, the present bill drastically limits the way that cigarettes can be regulated by FDA; at the same time, it will impose much stricter standards on nicotine gum, patches, smokeless tobacco, and other smoking-cessation aids. The American Council on Science and Health says, “the legislation offered by Chairman Waxman will, in fact, have the unintended consequence of making it harder for smokers to stop quitting.”

Link to full article.