FDA TO REGULATE TOBACCO

FDA To Regulate Tobacco

FDA To Regulate Tobacco

Introduction

In 2000, the US Supreme Court threw out regulations1 on tobacco advertising and cigarette sales to minors imposed in 1996 by former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner David Kessler.2 Since then, the Campaign for Tobacco -Free Kids has led an effort to lobby for the passage of federal legislation that would put all tobacco products under a single regulatory roof.

If enacted, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (currently pending in Senate and House Committees) would give the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco products and would be the first federal legislation on tobacco since the 1988 airline-smoking ban.

Discussion

History has shown that the tobacco industry has outwitted public-health advocates at every attempt to impose federal tobacco legislation. The main goal of the Federal Cigarette Advertising and Labeling Act of 19708 was to remove ubiquitous cigarette ads from the broadcast media. Yet no sooner had overt cigarette commercials left the airwaves than televised sports events, such as the Marlboro Grand Prix, the Virginia Slims Tennis Circuit, and Winston Cup Racing, began proliferating.9 and 10

Tobacco companies have also outmanoeuvred health advocates who believed they had found a way to use the industry's money to fund antismoking education. The Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 has resulted in a tiny fraction of settlement funding being directed toward smoking prevention and cessation programmes.11 Only four states are currently allocating to tobacco prevention the minimum amount recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; all told, only 2•6% of tobacco revenues are being spent on tobacco prevention and cessation.11 The attorneys general, concerned about the potential loss of tobacco revenues should cigarette companies be forced to post bond to appeal a punitive award in an Illinois product liability lawsuit, as required by state law, filed an amicus brief12 to prevent the bond payment which they argued would have diverted funds away from state coffers.

Is Congress on the verge of standing up to Big Tobacco? Maybe not, when one of the most vocal champions of this bill turns out to be none other than the nation's largest cigarette company. Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro, the top cigarette brand in the USA and throughout the world, now marches shoulder-to-shoulder with the Campaign for Tobacco -Free Kids, the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association, among others, in lobbying for passage of the legislation4, 5 and 6 (all of the other major tobacco companies oppose the bill). In a statement issued upon re-introduction of the FDA tobacco legislation in both the House and Senate, Altria Group, Inc (Philip Morris' parent company) stated: “Altria and PM [Philip Morris] USA strongly support the passage of this legislation and remain committed in our support for comprehensive, meaningful and effective FDA regulation of tobacco products.” (Renkes,2003,22)

Philip Morris' support for the bill should prompt scepticism about the legislation's public-health benefits. Reading the fine print bears this out. Consider the ...