Oversight of tobacco offers potential to save lives
- Mar 24, 2009
The product packs a devastating punch. Its smoke-lined trail leads to some startling statistics: More than 400,000 Americans die each year as a result of its scourge, and each day some 3,500 children try it in one form for the first time while another 1,000 children become regular users. But this culprit waging war on America’s health, tobacco, could soon face a battle of its own.
A measure fast moving toward consideration in Congress would rein in Big Tobacco, potentially slashing these tragic numbers of death and addiction. Before Congress breaks for Easter recess in less than two weeks, the House is expected to take up legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight of the sale, marketing and manufacturing of tobacco products. Astonishingly, the products currently undergo virtually no regulation.
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act would bring to tobacco the same meaningful oversight required of household products ranging from macaroni and cheese to makeup and cosmetics to dog food. Even nicotine gum, an agent to help nicotine addicts kick their habit, faces FDA scrutiny.
More specifically, the bill would empower the FDA to crack down on tobacco marketing and sales to kids, stop tobacco companies from misleading the public about the health risks of their products, and force tobacco companies to make changes in these products, such as the reduction or removal of harmful ingredients.
A major impetus for reining in the $70 billion industry is the clear need to help safeguard children. Youth represent the target audience for the industry’s $13 billion annual marketing blitz. The logic for tapping this impressionable demographic is not surprising. Studies show that advertising influences children at a rate three times greater than adults. Add to this the fact that roughly 90 percent of adult smokers began their habit while in their high school years or younger, and it is little wonder the adolescent crowd has become a boon for business. Bait them as children and they’re hooked for life, the reasoning goes.
One means of baiting children is with candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes. Enticing flavors packaged as “midnight berry,” “twista lime,” and “Caribbean chill,” to name a few, make youth an easy target. Another method of alluring prospective lifelong addicts is through sleek advertisements outdoors near schools and playgrounds and in magazines geared for young readers. Those clever methods would be essentially stopped under the bill.
Yet despite its potential to help save lives, the legislation has not been without some critics. Two of the biggest concerns—overloading the FDA and creating a false sense of public safety—are addressed in the measure itself. The FDA costs would be passed on to tobacco manufacturers through user fees. This would shield taxpayers from shouldering the financial burden and ensure that the agency can take on this new responsibility without diverting staff and resources. Additionally, the FDA would subject tobacco to a new public health standard, rather than the “safe and effective” standard applied to other products.
A diverse, growing coalition has rallied behind the bill. Supportive public health and faith-based groups now number more than 950, including the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, and American Heart Association. Congress has demonstrated the support necessary to approve the bill. The House passed it by a 3-to-1 margin last year, and the Senate passed a similar measure in 2004.
The necessary momentum is in place. The time has now come to end special treatment for tobacco companies and to help prevent them from luring even more children down the road of lifelong addiction and premature death.
If you agree, please urge your representative to support the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (H.R. 1256).
For more information:
Richard Land’s testimony on FDA regulation of tobacco before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (PDF – 56 KB)
Further Learning
Learn more about: Family, Addictions, Substance Abuse, Living, Health