WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee Wednesday embraced legislation that would for the first time allow federal regulation of cigarettes, said the Associated Press.
The bill, approved 13-8 by the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, would require the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) 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.
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 Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), involving health groups and 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.
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 PM, 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 PM had nothing to do with our decision and he supported the clove ban as long as it is WTO compliant.
PM's competitors are strongly opposed to the overall bill, saying it would lock in PM's dominant market share. The panel rejected several amendments by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who represents R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in his home state of North Carolina. Kennedy said that 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 PM's 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.
Meanwhile, Todd A. Walker, vice president of federal government relations for Greenwich, Conn.-based UST Inc., the parent company of U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., said, We are disappointed that the Senate Health Committee has not addressed the distinct differences between smokeless tobacco and cigarettes in their consideration of this important legislation. Smokeless tobacco products are different than cigarettes in many respects, and we believe this legislation should take that into account. There is a general acceptance in the public health and scientific communities that cigarette smoking is significantly more dangerous than the use of smokeless tobacco.
He added, UST remains opposed to S. 625 in its current form and will continue to vigorously express its views to members of Congress, stakeholders and other interested parties to try to find common ground for change. While disappointed with the bill in its current form, UST looks forward to participating in an open and constructive dialogue as the legislative process unfolds. We hope that process will ultimately result in legislation that we can support.
The company said it will support legislation that takes into account the distinct differences between smokeless tobacco products and cigarettes and does not stifle competition.
Click here to view the bill.
Click here to view Enzi's statement on the Marlboro Protection Act.
Click here to view Kennedy's statement in support of the bill.
Click here to view Reynolds American's position on FDA regulation.
Click here to view PM's position on FDA regulation.
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