Congress Sends Tobacco Bill To Obama

President Hails Bill Giving FDA Authority To Regulate Cigarettes

(CBS/AP)  Updated 12:50 p.m. ET

Congress on Friday sent to the White House legislation that gives the U.S. government vast new powers to regulate and restrict cigarettes, the single largest cause of preventable death.

President Barack Obama hailed the moment, saying it "truly defines changes in Washington." (Read the president's full remarks.)

The measure, more than a decade in the making, for the first time gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to examine what goes into tobacco products, ban those ingredients deemed dangerous to health and limit marketing and sales.

Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat and chief sponsor of the House of Representatives version, called regulation "the single most important thing that we can do right now to curb this deadly toll."

More than 400,000 people in the U.S. die every year from tobacco-related diseases, according to government figures. About 45 million U.S. adults are smokers, though the prevalence has fallen since the U.S. surgeon general's warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer.

The House, which first passed a similar bill in April, voted 307-97 to endorse the version passed 79-17 by the Senate on Thursday.

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Hot Topic: How Much Should The U.S. Regulate Tobacco?

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The measure puts special emphasis on dissuading some of the 3,500 young Americans who every day smoke a cigarette for the first time. It prohibits use of candied and flavored cigarettes popular among young people and severely restricts advertisements and promotions targeted toward youth. It bans use of words such as "mild" or "light" that give the impression that the brand is safer. It requires stronger warning labels.

The FDA would also require tobacco companies to reveal the contents of their products and they would have to seek approval for marketing new products. It gives the FDA power to order changes to ingredients, including tar and nicotine, to protect public health.

But the bill is not as strong as some had wanted, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

For example, the bill bans all flavorings, like banana or cinnamon, but not the most common flavoring - menthol. It allows the FDA to reduce nicotine content - but not remove it altogether, Cordes reports.

"We will never be able to get rid of the addictive nature of tobacco because we are now forced to maintain the nicotine," said Dr. Michael Siegel of Boston University School of Health. "That is a tremendous victory for Philip Morris and for big tobacco."

Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris USA, the largest US tobacco company, issued a statement Thursday supporting the legislation and saying it approved "tough but reasonable federal regulation of tobacco products" by the FDA. Rival companies have voiced opposition, saying FDA limits on new tobacco products could lock in market shares for Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro cigarettes. (Read more about why Philip Morris supports the bill.)

Opposition in the House came from Republicans concerned about government intrusion in private enterprise and tobacco state lawmakers. One of them, Rep. Howard Coble, a Republican, said people in his state of North Carolina believed "allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco in any capacity would lead to the FDA regulating the family farm."

The greater goal of the legislation is to reduce deaths linked to smoking and shrink the annual $100 billion health care price tag for tobacco-related illnesses in the U.S.

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Former FDA Chief On Tobacco Reform

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Smoking is responsible for more than 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the U.S. said Dr. Douglas Blayney, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The bill, he said, "should have a huge impact on reducing the death and disease brought on by tobacco use."

Mr. Obama, who has spoken of his own struggle to quit smoking, praised the bill, saying it "will make history by giving the scientists and medical experts at the FDA the power to take sensible steps."

Lawmakers, led by the ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., have been fighting for more than a decade to impose government controls over cigarettes, only to meet strong resistance from the tobacco industry and others. The Supreme Court in 2000 said the FDA did not have authority to regulate tobacco under current law, and the administration of then-President George W. Bush opposed congressional efforts to rewrite the law.

[zonkzilla]

It sounds like a good compromise.
Time will tell.

[lf1952]

Ah..ALL drugs have potential serious side effects.
Penicillin kills via anaphylaxis. Of source, so does rheumatic fever or post streptococcal glomerulus nephritis (as a result of an untreated strep throat).
That's why you need someone with a lot of training to identify the risk to benefit ratio for you (MD/DO/PA/NP licensed to write Rx).
Just because a drug has black box label doesn't mean it shouldn't be used (even commonly). All it means is the risk to an individual patient (usually minuscule) must be justified by the benefit.

Smoking, on the other hand, causes nothing but disability and death. It is absolutely your choice to partake, as long as you don't injure anyone else, just like any dangerous activity. (Almost) No one is suggesting that cigarettes be made illegal, and those folks that do forget we live in America.

The data about salt intake is bogus, BTW. Not good for hypertensive patients, and increases the risk of hypertension, but order of magnitude difference in risk and has redeeming virtues as well.

[nofoolling]

Since the FDA is the agency (big pharma's whipping boys), currently allowing/promoting drugs whose side affects include sudden death due to side effects causing systemic major organ failures in the human body, its a far stretch to imagine this bill will aid the American public in any way.

More than likely money will change hands and profits will soar due to this latest song and dance, dog and pony show, and restructuring.

If Philip Morris was in favor of it, we should be looking for the dark cloud wrapped in this silver lining.

Ask your tobacco retailer if Marlboros are right for you!

[lf1952]

Sorry, forgot the source: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/lcod.htm

[lf1952]

This is clear and present danger to the livelihood of all the cardiologists, pulmonologists and oncologists in the US. If smoking diminishes, so will heart disease, lung disease and cancer!!!! How will all those doctors make a living????????
It would shrink health care costs as well by reducing the number one, two, three and four causes of death in the US - totally un-American!!!!!!
Think about all the funeral homes who will have wait longer to make money!!!!
(This is an attempt at humor, for those not clear on the concept.)

[longtree-2009]

400k die from smoking a year. seems that there was a health news story that reported 200k died a year from excessive use of salt in their diet. so is the government going to regulate salt usage? at what point are citizens supposed to be responsible for their own health choices? if people want to die prematurely, isn't that their right? obama is a smoker, also his right. obama sets a fine example for his children just like other parents. is it child abuse to smoke in an enclosed area, like a vehicle, when minors are present? or how about texting, using a cell phone, while minors are passengers in a vehicle? none of it makes sense.

[SusanStoHelit]

Wonder who sent out the talking point memo to lie about this bill, pretend it is a bill that will ban cigarettes, rather than the truth. No way did so many people fail to read the article, misinterpret it in the same way. So - who sent out the lies to be spread around?

This bill says the FDA can regulate ingredients, as it does on any other foodstuff - but explicitly does not allow them to ban tobacco products, cigarettes, etc.

[SusanStoHelit]

So much misinformation! This is just letting the FDA regulate the safety of cigarettes, just like they regulate the other substances we consume. Find me a cheese maker who can get away with formaldahyde and cyanide in their cheeses - and say they shouldn't be regulated! This is all this bill is doing - they cannot ban the products, but at long last they can regulate them for safety - cigarette makers will no longer be able to add any chemical they think might help you become addicted even faster.

But this doesn't even allow them to ban cigarettes. So many people spreading this false idea, I wonder where it came from.

[glasser3]

You know i find it hard to believe as americans that wed allow our government to start infringing on our freedoms like this next we'll be paying a tax on air usage... Ill admit i am a smoker and ill say this i can see right now what their grand plan is... lower nicotine levels in cigarettes to encourage smokers to smoke more therefore raising the number of packs they buy to collect more taxes... sorry to tell you this though obama .... we're not gonna smoke your way out of the deficit you and bush have created... and those who say their will be a black market for cigarettes are right its going to come to that point but its also going to come to the point where anything potentially dangerous is going to be so regulated we are going to be like a nation of robots ... let me make my own damn choices and my own mistakes .. I work hard for my living and sure im not rich but soon no american will be able to go home from work to relax and enjoy the rest of the day as they wish we'll have to check a federal calander to see what we are allowed to do that night... its sickening to think of all the rights weve lost and all the rights they want to take away from us i think we all need to start standing up for our rights as americans the rights our parents, grandparents ect have fought to protect for us.

[forrestlayne]

It makes perfect sense to a sentient being, the US government needs money to pay for Bush's wars, and the corporate corruption welfare bailouts, and since the poor have no money, from whence then is the money supposed to come?
Posted by brianbwb-2009 at 6:01 PM : Jun 12, 2009

The past 2 years the democratic controlled congress funded the "Bush" wars - Ain't you people figured it out yet? Ther is no difference between reps and dems. DUH

[searingtruth]

"Freedom is being allowed to do the 'wrong' thing, as well as the 'right' thing, to as great a degree as possible, so long as it does not infringe upon the right of others to exercise the same liberty."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[brianbwb-2009]

"...The great nanny obama will sign with a smile on his face but he only taxes the rich" Posted by popstom101

It makes perfect sense to a sentient being, the US government needs money to pay for Bush's wars, and the corporate corruption welfare bailouts, and since the poor have no money, from whence then is the money supposed to come?

[cattlekate1]

Can we get Kevin Costner and Sean Connery to star in the flick about the illegal tobacco trade more sin taxes will create?

[gravyboat3000]

Most smokers are low and low middle class and things like this, due to most not quitting, serves only to make their lives more difficult and takes food out of their mouths.
Posted by denn034

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I work at a Hospital, where there are designated areas for staff and visitors to smoke, outside.

You know who I see there as I walk by?

Physicians, Nurses, Housekeepers, Food Service workers and Office staff. And at least one administrator, from time to time.

[DanRathersJr]

Most smokers are low and low middle class and things like this, due to most not quitting, serves only to make their lives more difficult and takes food out of their mouths.
Posted by denn034 at 3:51 PM : Jun
and who the F UCK are you??upper class....i really want to slap your sl utty w **** face...really...

[DanRathersJr]

Most smokers are low and low middle class and things like this, due to most not quitting, serves only to make their lives more difficult and takes food out of their mouths.
Posted by denn034 at 3:51 PM : Jun 12, 2009

you are super ignorant...seriously...

[nofoolling]

Since the FDA is the agency (big pharma's whipping boys), currently allowing/promoting drugs whose side affects include sudden death due to side effects causing systemic major organ failures in the human body, its a far stretch to imagine this bill will aid the American public in any way.

More than likely money will change hands and profits will soar due to this latest song and dance, dog and pony show, and restructuring.

If Philip Morris was in favor of it, we should be looking for the dark cloud wrapped in this silver lining.

Ask your tobacco retailer if Marlboros are right for you!

[Livinontheedge]

Obama being a smokers needs to veto his first bill. But then again it will just go back to the house and they will go over his head and pass it on their own. I was glad to see Sen. Hagen and Burr from NC voted no on this bill seeing how their campaigns main contributor was R.J.Reynolds.

[tanberet]

If people want to smoke tobacco that should be their right, and their business, not the governments.

Hundreds of millions of Americans are currently killing themselves (and others!) with alcohol, and the government apparently does not feel obliged to step in and prevent them from doing so -- so why single out tobacco?

Until the government goes after alcohol with the same determination, then legislating tobacco use is totally hypocritical, in the extreme.

[mkrafft1]

debinok1, I agree bigtime. I quit 2 years ago and my biggest ***** was always either outlaw the product or don't make it illegal to use almost everywhere. Smokers are picked on because it's popular to do so and they're outnumbered. Sometimes it's easier to just give in and quit. I know it's cheeper anyway......