The U.S. Senate may vote as early as Tuesday on legislation that would, for the first time, give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products. Numerous anti-smoking and health groups support the legislation. So does this mean Congress is finally on the verge of stepping up to take on Big Tobacco?
Hardly. The bill in question was crafted, in part, by the nation's leading cigarette company, Philip Morris, as part of a deal worked out between the tobacco giant and an anti-smoking group - the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The health groups supporting the legislation have been seduced by the few concessions that Philip Morris dangled before them and have lost sight of the long-term damage that this bill will do to the public's health.
The legislation would do a few good things, including requiring stronger warning labels on cigarette packages and limiting cigarette advertising directed at youths. But the bill's fine print contains numerous loopholes inserted to appease Philip Morris. In the end, it ensures that federal regulation of tobacco products will remain more about politics than about science.
Take the bill's handling of nicotine. The FDA would be allowed to require lower nicotine levels in cigarettes but not to require that nicotine be eliminated from cigarettes. This political compromise accomplishes little. It has been well documented that when nicotine levels in cigarettes are reduced, smokers inhale more deeply and smoke more cigarettes in order to maintain their daily nicotine dosage. The catch is that low-nicotine cigarettes end up delivering a greater dose of tar. This leads to an increase, not a decrease, in the risk of cancer and lung disease.
In fact, the bill's entire approach to tobacco products flies in the face of what we currently know about the dangers of smoking. The FDA will be charged with regulating the safety of tobacco products, but it will only be allowed to require the reduction or elimination of some of the more than 4,000 toxins and 60 carcinogens in tobacco smoke. There is no evidence that reducing or eliminating certain constituents in tobacco smoke will reduce the health risks of smoking. In fact, several studies have shown that when you remove one harmful component, the levels of others may increase. Attempting to regulate the levels of certain constituents of tobacco smoke is an absurd approach to the tobacco problem.
