ATS Supports FDA Tobacco Legislation: Crucial Bill Reaches Floor Of House

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Also Included In: Respiratory / Asthma
Article Date: 05 Apr 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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More than a decade after being first proposed, and millions of tobacco-related deaths later, FDA regulation of tobacco is close to becoming a reality. Bi-partisan legislation co-sponsored by Representatives Henry Waxman and Todd Platts is currently on the floor of the House that, if passed, would give the FDA the authority to oversee and regulate tobacco marketing and sales in the U.S.

Nationally, there are more than 400,000 tobacco-related deaths annually in the U.S. and every day 3,000 teens who try cigarettes and become permanent smokers. That is why members of both parties, the President and, most importantly, the overwhelming majority of the American public believe The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is a necessary step to reduce smoking among all Americans and prevent a new generation of American from becoming enslaved to the lethal tobacco addiction.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, on the other hand would establish effective FDA regulation of tobacco products would protect children, improve health and save lives in North Carolina and across the nation.

"The Waxman-Platts bill needs to pass and it needs to pass now," said American Thoracic Society President-elect J. Randall Curtis, M.D., M.P.H., who is a professor of medicine and public health at the department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Harborview Medical Center and the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. "It is simply unconscionable that we go forward without this bill and thereby allow the tobacco industry to continue to addict our children and to enslave another generation to their deadly product."

The bipartisan legislation pending before Congress would give the FDA authority to:

- Restrict tobacco advertising, especially to children.
- Ban candy-flavored cigarettes.
- Require tobacco companies to disclose the contents of tobacco products, changes to their products and research about the health effects of their products.
- Require changes in tobacco products, such as the removal or reduction of harmful ingredients.
- Prohibit health claims about so-called "reduced risk" products that are not scientifically proven or that would discourage current tobacco users from quitting or encourage new users to start.
- Require larger, more effective health warnings on tobacco products.
- Prohibit advertising or terms that imply health claims such as "low-tar," "light" and "mild" that have mislead consumers into believing that certain cigarettes are safer than others.

However, just as this historic measure is on the brink of passing Congress and being sent to a president who has already indicated he'll sign it, Senators Richard Burr and Kay Hagen, both of North Carolina, have introduced a bill designed to derail this effort.The Burr-Hagen legislation would create a new department altogether to oversee tobacco regulation, but the proposal is flawed- riddled with restrictions, loopholes and hurdles that will make it difficult, if not impossible, to effectively regulate tobacco products and protect public health.

"Creating a new agency with an unproven record and no established oversight will merely delay and dilute the true purpose of the original legislation," said Dr. Curtis. "Ironically, while Senators Burr and Hagen may be acting to protect the financial interests of their state, they are overlooking its most valuable asset: its people. In North Carolina, tobacco kills nearly 14,000 people and costs the state $2.5 billion in health care bills each year."

"FDA regulation of tobacco - as outlined in the Waxman-Platts Bill - is clearly the right thing to do and this is clearly the right time to do it. Further delay will only add to the toll of death and disease caused by tobacco use in this country."

About the ATS

Founded in 1905, the American Thoracic Society is the world's leading medical association dedicated to advancing pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. The Society has more than 15,000 members who prevent and fight respiratory disease around the globe, through research, education, patient care and advocacy.

Source
American Thoracic Society

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