US House Approves FDA to Regulate Tobacco

Tobacco is the primary cause of preventable deaths in America each year, and approximately 40 million Americans are susceptible to that fact. Companies that benefit from those millions of cigarette smokers could be in for more regulation than ever experienced before, as tobacco may soon be under the auspices of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), if the recent vote in the House of Representatives is any indication.

H.R. 1108 was originally introduced in early 2007 but underwent changes over the past year and several months. It was sponsored by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) but eventually gathered the support of the majority of the House of Representatives as co-sponsors. With the endorsement of more than 680 public health, faith-based, and other organizations, it was also shown in polls to have the support of 70 percent of American voters.

The primary purpose of the bill has been to grant the U.S. FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products and restrict tobacco product marketing. Some of the primary tenets to the legislation are to require larger and more detailed health warnings on tobacco products, require tobacco companies to fully disclose ingredients and health effects, allow for the requirement of the removal or reduction of harmful ingredients, ban candy-flavored cigarettes, and prohibit claims of "light" and "mild" from misleading consumers.

On Wednesday, July 30, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve H.R. 1108, now called the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, by a margin of 326 to 102. While its companion legislation, S. 625 sponsored by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and John Cornyn (R-TX), still awaits Senate approval, there is speculation that it will come in the fall session of Congress.

But in the end, it remains unclear if any such bill will be signed by President George W. Bush if and when it reaches his desk, as the White House has made clear that advisers have recommended a veto of the bill because regulation of such harmful products would counter the FDA's supposed mission of protecting public health. The White House statement read, in part, that the law "could be perceived by the public as an endorsement that these products are safe, resulting in more people smoking." Nevertheless, overwhelming support in Congress might be enough to override that veto.

Debate over the issue is ongoing due to its controversial nature of the subject matter and the long-standing protection of the tobacco industry by the federal government. However, the support shown by the House of Representatives' overwhelming support of H.R. 1108 may sway the Senate, not to mention public opinion, in the dual legislation's direction.

Opponents of the legislation have cited the inability of the already over-burdened FDA to have the time or resources to regulate tobacco products, though in 1996, the FDA actively sought that responsibility. The outcome of that battle fell into the hands of the Supreme Court, which ruled that the FDA did not have the authority to do so. However, the current pending legislation was reworked to avoid the same conflict with the prior Supreme Court ruling and attempt the tobacco industry oversight again.

While the ultimate outcome can only be speculated upon at this time, the vote in the House of Representatives shows tremendous support for the legislation. What is quite certain is that an FDA takeover of tobacco regulation could change the future of tobacco and those who use it forever. The next step will be implementing a comprehensive plan to aid the 40 million Americans who remain addicted to the products, which intends to be the most challenging aspect of it all.