Tobacco has a tough road ahead as FDA oversight nears

Tobacco has a tough road ahead as FDA oversight nears

These are not good days for tobacco, as demonstrated by developments on the national and local scenes.

In Washington, D.C., the U.S. House passed by an overwhelming margin a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products. Given that tobacco products are, after all, nothing more than vehicles for the delivery of an addicting drug — nicotine — it is remarkable that tobacco has been unregulated by the FDA for so long. It is a testament to the political power that the tobacco companies wielded during that time. Much of that power was purchased though millions of dollars of campaign contributions. Some of it was geographic, coming from areas of the country where, for generations, tobacco was king.

Over the years, the power of the tobacco companies waned. And over the years, tobacco companies realized that the golden leaf was loosing some of its luster and so began diversifying into areas that were less subject to government oversight — and less likely to kill people.

Next to the Senate

The House action was overdue. Now it is up to leaders in the Senate to follow suit. A similar bill passed the Senate in 2004, but stalled in the House. Senate leaders can’t allow the reverse to happen in 2008. President Bush has promised a veto. He should be given an opportunity to exercise it. The bill passed the House by a veto proof margin (326-102); we can only hope for a similar margin in the Senate.

The legislation will give the FDA wide ranging authority to study tobacco products, report on their dangers and regulate sales and marketing, especially to younger smokers and potential smokers.

Forty-six years after the first Surgeon General’s report warning of the health hazards of cigarette smoking and 20 years after Surgeon General C. Everett Koop reported that nicotine was as addictive as heroin, the FDA would finally be able to pursue regulation of tobacco products. The agency had attempted to assert such jurisdiction in 1996, but the Supreme Court ruled that the Clinton administration was overreaching it authority. It has taken 12 years to get legislation that address the court’s objections.

During each of those years, about 400,000 Americans died as a result of the tobacco products they had put in their mouths. And during all those years the FDA was powerless to regulate the fatal commerce of tobacco.

Closer to home, tobacco suffered a blow from Akron Children’s Hospital, which announced it will no longer hire persons who smoke cigarettes or use other tobacco products.

Thousands of other companies have adopted similar policies, both in the interest of having healthier workers and in the interest of cutting the company’s health insurance costs.

The policy will apply to Akron Children’s Youngstown operations as well.

It will be interesting to see if other health-care providers in this area follow Akron Children’s lead. It is appropriate for hospitals to be in the vanguard of the movement. Their success in improving the health of their employees and in saving money on health coverage for those employees will provide an example that others might want to emulate.