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From Patrick Basham of the Cato Institute:
Handing tobacco regulation to the FDA, as Congress is poised to do, is an epic public health mistake. It is tantamount to giving the keys of the regulatory store to the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris.
The legislation was cooked up out of public sight by Philip Morris, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Rep. Henry Waxman and anti-tobacco lobbyists. During years of covert negotiation, Philip Morris outwitted this coalition of “useful idiots” at every turn. Philip Morris staffers themselves even wrote large portions of the bill.
That is why FDA regulation serves Philip Morris' interest, not the public's.
Backers suggest their legislation will end tobacco marketing, prevent kids from starting to smoke and make cigarettes less enjoyable. But FDA regulation will do none of these things.
The bill fails to identify why young people start, and concentrates almost exclusively on restricting tobacco marketing. There is nothing in the legislation that shows the FDA understands the connections between education, poverty and smoking status.
Instead of providing accurate information about the risks of low-tar cigarettes, the legislation requires the FDA to ban the descriptor, leaving the risks unclear.
Moreover, in requiring graphic warnings, the legislation commits to fear-based messages that overstate the risks, and fail to prevent and reduce smoking.
The process of validating new reduced-risk products appears to be designed to prevent such products from reaching the marketplace, thus giving smokers the stark choice of “quit smoking or die.” Rather than making smoking safer, it will deny smokers access to safer products.
The FDA's general incompetence argues against giving it regulatory responsibility for the nation's tobacco policy.
FDA regulation of tobacco need not be a public health tragedy. By bringing the crafting of tobacco policy into the light of day, by taking it out of the hands of the special interests, and by keeping it away from the FDA, there is every opportunity to create a policy that actually works.
