WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers continued their efforts this week to give the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products. The legislation passed the House last summer, but faced a veto threat from then-President George Bush and did not get a vote in the Senate, said the Associated Press. Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who has fought for years for government regulation of tobacco products, announced plans Monday to reintroduce the legislation.
While the Waxman bill is expected to move to the House for a floor vote, [image-nocss] Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) is trying to gain committee support for an alternative measure that in lieu of FDA, would create a new agency within the Department of Health & Human Services to regulate tobacco products, CSP Daily News has learned.
The proposal, which sources said will not succeed, would create the Tobacco Harm Reduction Center, whose primary purpose is to "reduce death and disease associated with tobacco use and prevent the use of tobacco products by minors."
One of the key differences between the Waxman and Buyer measures is the treatment of all tobacco products. The Waxman measure, supported by an unlikely coalition that includes Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Philip Morris, treats all tobacco products as harmful. The Buyer proposal puts greater emphasis on cigarettes, which according to many health experts, is more harmful than smokeless products.
"The Waxman bill simply keeps the same playing field. It keeps Philip Morris and Marlboro dominant," said Bill Godshall, executive director of Smokefree Pennsylvania. "We're against all tobacco, but where we disagree with Waxman and Tobacco-Free Kids in their focusing on kids. We're focusing on the 45 million people who are smoking today. Our goal is to push smokeless. It is proven to beless harmful than cigarettes and the public needs to know it. Waxman's bill treats all tobacco as if they're equally bad, and that's just not the case."
Meanwhile, officials at Tobacco-Free Kids are thrilled that a decade-old battle to empower FDA could soon be over with a major political victory. "What is good about this bill," said Eric Lindblom, the group's director of policy research, "is that it treats all retailers fairly. I know a lot of NACS' members and members of other associations who are concerned about foreign-based imports or online sales. This is all addressed in this bill. Our goal is to have a product that is legal but not marketed in an irresponsible way that hooks a new generation of consumer."
"Tobacco has never been, and should never be, a partisan issue," Waxman told AP. "I believe most members of Congress share my desire to pass meaningful and truly effective tobacco legislation to reduce youth smoking."
After Congress' session was abbreviated Monday due to snow, the actual bill reintroduction was delayed until Tuesday. Waxman planned to bring the bill to a vote Wednesday in the Energy & Commerce Committee, which he chairs, and said he was optimistic it would become law during this session of Congress.
Opponents of the legislation contend the FDA is not up to the job. "I believe it's going to gut the agency's resources and distract it from its core mission," said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute and a deputy FDA commissioner during the Bush administration.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who chairs the Senate's health committee, plans to reintroduce a Senate version of the bill in coming weeks. Last year, his bill had 60 co-sponsors, including Obama, enough to overcome a filibuster. Now there are even more Democrats in the Senate, increasing the likelihood of passage, said AP. An earlier version of the bill passed the Senate in 2004.
While the legislation would not let the FDA outlaw tobacco or nicotine, the agency could demand the reduction or elimination of cancer-causing chemicals in cigarette smoke. The bill would prohibit candy-flavored cigars and cigarettes, and would give the FDA authority to ban menthol. UBS Investment Research analyst Nik Modi, however, said in a research note that Waxman stated on a public conference a few weeks ago that "banning menthol was too radical a move."
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