FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products is Essential to Saving Lives

Op-Ed by U.S. Senator Mike DeWine

Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in America. Empowering the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products is the most important action we can take to substantially reduce the number of men and women who suffer and die from smoking-induced disease each year.

We cannot in good conscience allow the federal agency most responsible for protecting the public health to remain powerless to deal with the enormous risks of tobacco, the most deadly of all consumer products. That is why we introduced legislation last year to give the FDA broad authority to regulate tobacco products for the protection of the public health. Since that time, support for FDA regulation has been steadily growing. We plan to reintroduce similar legislation in the near future, and we are confident that the Senate will pass it this year.

The stakes are vast. Five thousand children have their first cigarette every day, and two thousand of them become daily smokers. Nearly a thousand of them will die prematurely from tobacco?induced diseases. Cigarettes kill well over four hundred thousand Americans each year. That is more lives lost than from automobile accidents, alcohol abuse, illegal drugs, AIDS, murder, suicide, and fires combined. Our response to a public health problem of this magnitude must consist of more than half?way measures.

We must deal firmly with tobacco company marketing practices that target children and mislead the public. The Food and Drug Administration needs broad authority to regulate the sale, distribution, and advertising of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. The tobacco industry currently spends over nine billion dollars a year to promote its products. Much of that money is spent in ways designed to tempt children to start smoking, before they are mature enough to appreciate the enormity of the health risk. The industry knows that more than 90% of smokers begin as children and are addicted by the time they reach adulthood.

If we are serious about reducing youth smoking, FDA must have the power to prevent industry advertising designed to appeal to children wherever it will be seen by children. Our legislation will give FDA the ability to stop tobacco advertising which glamorizes smoking to youth.

FDA authority must also extend to the sale of tobacco products, including the power to limit the sale of cigarettes to face-to-face transactions in which the age of the purchaser can be verified by identification. This means an end to self-service displays and most vending machine sales. There must also be serious enforcement efforts with real penalties for those caught selling tobacco products to children. This is the only way to ensure that children under 18 are not able to buy cigarettes. Our legislation provides for stronger warnings on all cigarette and smokeless tobacco packages, and in all print advertisements. These warnings will be larger and more explicit in their description of the medical problems which can result from tobacco use.

The tobacco industry has a long, dishonorable history of providing misleading information about the health consequences and addictiveness of smoking. These companies have repeatedly sought to characterize their products as far less hazardous than they are. It is essential that FDA have clear and unambiguous authority to prevent such misrepresentations in the future. The largest disinformation campaign in the history of the corporate world must come to an end.

Given the extraordinary addictiveness of the nicotine in tobacco products, it is essential that the FDA regulate them for the protection of the public health. The tobacco companies have deliberately made these products even more addictive than they would be naturally. FDA should be able to take the necessary steps to help addicted smokers overcome their addiction, and to make the product less toxic for smokers who are unable or unwilling to stop. To do so, FDA must have the authority to reduce or remove hazardous ingredients from cigarettes, to the extent that it becomes scientifically feasible. The inherent risk in smoking should not be unnecessarily compounded.

Recent statements by several tobacco companies make clear that they plan to develop what they claim to be "reduced risk" tobacco products. Our legislation will require manufacturers to submit such "reduced risk" products to the FDA for analysis before they can be marketed. No health-related claims will be permitted until they have been verified to the FDA's satisfaction. Only independent review by FDA can determine whether a significant reduction in risk has actually been achieved. To be genuinely "reduced risk," a tobacco product must demonstrate a substantial net reduction in overall health risk to the public. These safeguards are essential to prevent deceptive industry marketing campaigns, which could lull the public into a false sense of health safety.

Congress must vest FDA not only with the responsibility for regulating tobacco products, but with full authority to do the job effectively. Our legislation will give the FDA the legal authority it needs - - to reduce youth smoking by preventing tobacco advertising which targets children -- to prevent the sale of tobacco products to minors -- to help smokers overcome their addiction -- to make tobacco products less toxic for those who continue to use them -- and to prevent the tobacco industry from misleading the public about the dangers of smoking.

We cannot allow the tobacco industry to stop us from doing what we know is right for America's children. We intend to do all we can to see that Congress enacts this legislation this year. The health of our children must be our highest priority.