Senate Panel OKs FDA Regulation Of Tobacco

(CBS/AP)  A Senate committee Wednesday embraced legislation that would for the first time allow federal regulation of cigarettes.

The bill, approved 13-8 by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, would require the Food and Drug Administration to restrict tobacco advertising, regulate warning labels and remove hazardous ingredients.

The agency also would be given the authority to set standards for products that tobacco companies advertise as "reduced risk" products.

"There are close to 70 known cancer-causing agents in tobacco products, Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes. "Today no one has the authority to tell a tobacco company to take any of them out."

"This is an enormous step forward," said Myers. "This could end up being the signature public health action this Congress takes."

The bill has broad bipartisan support in the Senate, where more than 50 senators have signed on as co-sponsors. A similar bill passed the chamber in 2004 but was blocked in the House.

The tobacco legislation was crafted through several years of negotiations led by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., involving health groups and tobacco giant Philip Morris, which broke from its competitors to endorse FDA regulation.

The bill would allow the FDA to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, but only Congress could permanently ban them.

Misleading terms like "light," "mild" or "low tar" would also have to be eliminated, reports Cordes.

The committee adopted an amendment by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., that would ban clove cigarettes, reversing a controversial decision by Kennedy to allow the FDA to make that decision.

Kennedy, the panel's chairman, said he was responding to several senators who contacted him with concerns that a ban on cloves would not be compliant with World Trade Organization rules. But Kennedy agreed to the ban after several senators objected.

Most cloves are marketed in Asia, and Philip Morris, a unit of New York-based Altria Group Inc., recently launched a Marlboro cigarette flavored with cloves in Indonesia.

Kennedy said at the meeting that Philip Morris had "nothing to do with our decision" and he supported the clove ban as long as it is WTO compliant.

Phillip Morris argues the bill would "bring predictability and clear standards to the tobacco industry," an industry that over the past decade has been besieged by lawsuits and public resentment, reports Cordes.

Philip Morris' competitors are strongly opposed to the overall bill, saying it would lock in Philip Morris's dominant market share. The panel rejected several amendments by Republican Sen. Richard Burr, who represents R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in his home state of North Carolina. Kennedy said Burr's amendments would undermine the legislation.

After the hearing, Burr said he would not rule out trying to hold up the bill on the Senate floor.

Enzi, the top Republican on the panel, also opposes the legislation and has objected to Philip Morris' involvement.

"If this bill is good for big tobacco, how can it be good for public health?" Enzi asked after the hearing. "The fact is, it can't. This bill is nothing more than a 'Marlboro Protection Act,' written to keep Philip Morris at the top of the tobacco market."

Enzi has introduced his own bill that would aim to greatly shrink the size of the tobacco market over the next 20 years.

[brianbwb-2009]

MichelleM99,

Reading your posts indicates almost all, if not all of your family members suffering some debilitating illness, and yourself several.

Have you ever considered you may be living in a "love Canal" type polluted hot spot, and that smoking may be only a minor contributor to your family's many illnesses? I seem to remember a post from you even alleging abusive relatives, this might be a "Hatfield- McCoy" type of inherited genetic disturbance.

Even counting for genetic predisposition, you family seems to suffer an extraordinary amount and variety of serious health issues, perhaps documenting them all might qualify your family for free health care at a research facility, I think doctors would be very interested in your family...

[brianbwb-2009]

Everybody, "left" and "right", there is a serious problem created with this legislation it seems you are missing;

"Kennedy, the panel's chairman, said he was responding to several senators who contacted him with concerns that a ban on cloves would not be compliant with World Trade Organization rules. But Kennedy agreed to the ban after several senators objected."

Ban on cloves? At best this is insanity, now your thanksgiving turkey is illegal if you tack on the pineapple slices with cloves, which pretty much covers everyone who prepares it. Also your next can of coca cola is now illegal, as its primary flavoring ingredient besides sugar, is clove from Madagascar.

America has no clove industry, the clove is a tropical plant, so since when does the FDA control the spice trade, and since when has clove been a drug subject to FDA regulation?...

[sjc_1]

Nicotine is an addictive drug and smoking is a very dirty delivery system that causes lung and heart disease for more than 200,000 people each and every year. They are finding out that toxins can cause a change in the epigenome. This causes mutations in cell reproduction and may be a leading cause of diseases like cancer. YES, I think they should regulate cigarettes and should have done so decades ago. The proof was overwhelming and if the Republicans we not so bought off by the tobacco industry we would have had these laws long ago and saved millions of people's lives.

[grammawhamma]

Did Barack Obahma quit smoking yet or is he still in the closet??

[catt42701]

There is so much more important things that need to be done and they are spending time trying to regulate the tobacco industry. What about regulating the auto industry so we can get vehicles that get more miles to the gallon and the coal industry so that they have to recover the pollutants they put into the air. No, they are going to regulate tobacco. They tried something similar with alcohol and we all know how that ended up.

[michellem99-2009]

scottyusa,Thank you for your kindness. Now on to the son who Mum scared the hell of him. My Dad is sick and it was smoking and in the 50s the Army got him smoking at 17. Gram had to sigh the papers. My Dad is on oxyren 24/7. He is 72. Love him. He quit cold turkey. His wife-to-be goes out doors to smoke.
My room mate ,56 used to smoke and like Scotty was mindful of others. In 00 he had his first of 5 heart attacks,has diabetes now does the shots,copd,can't sleep that well.His people got him smoking at a young age. He quit cold turkey.
I know the car is nasty ,what comes out the tapl pike. I cough awful when they pass me as does a burning cigerette. It is ban in our home. I am 52 and hate 2rd hand smoke I choose not to smoke.

[condumism]

Posted by S_Temper

We've actually done very well, while socialist Utopias like the USSR and Cuba have reverted into third-world countries.

Uh? Russia is more like a 2nd world country, with a far more educated populace than the USA has ever had. They have their problems, for sure, but their culture outshines America anyday of the week. They are atheist's. but far more christian as a whole than America could ever dream of becoming. Same with Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic Republics. And yes, American's are dumber than nails, and now clearly the most pathetic, cultureless society on the planet. How do you like being the most hated people on earth? You likely are without a clue, and as most condumbs, I'm certain that you could care less.

[drinuk]

It is about time the Baccy companies were forced to stop impregnating both the tobacco and the paper with dangerous chemicals. Let's have plain old tobacco which if it stops burning we can re-light. It is almost certain that someone smoking twenty a day for twenty years has inhaled enough cordite to fire a tank shell and all to make them burn quickly.
It is these chemicals which have been causing so much lung damage and seriously effecting passive smokers. Do it and Do it Now, it's long overdue.

[condumism]

S_Temper, a Southern Neocon Fascist blurted her support for a fascist America, all here for the entire world to see. Your imbecelic, hate filled remarks gave you away, girly!

[navyretired2]

"If you are a smoker, you don't leave us alone. You fill our lungs with smoke against our will, leave your stinking trail everywhere we go, and increase the cost of our health insurance. Why not just smear your own ***** on yourselves. You'll still stink, but you won't hurt our health.
Posted by downtowner97 at 07:17 PM : Aug 01, 2007"

And I suppose you're the model of human health and fitness right? Perfect condition, no body fat, no illnesses ever, don't even need innoculations?

I started smoking when I joined the Navy, and I've had less doctor's visits since then (over 20 years ago) than most 1 year olds today. Tell me how I'm raising your insurance costs?

Get off the holier than thou garbage. Your glass house isn't immune. EVERY type of doctor's or hospital visit raises health insurance...because guess what...the INDUSTRY ITSELF raises health insurance to pocket more of everybody's money. Smokers pay a higher premium for health insurance than non-smokers, so cry somewhere else.

Bothers me at times to smell people who overdose on cologn and perfume that I don't like...ban the industry!!