Please note that Senator Kennedy invited five witnesses to testify in support of the bill, while Senator Enzi was permitted to invite just two witnesses (including Dr. Alan Blum, who exposed how the bill would protect cigarettes, Philip Morris and Marlboro at the expense of public health).
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Two Republicans attack FDA tobacco bill in Senate
By Kevin Drawbaugh
Reuters
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070227/pl_nm/tobacco_congress_dc_1
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Republican senators on Tuesday criticized as misleading a proposal to let the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulate cigarettes, while Democratic proponents of the measure said it would save lives.
"Just having the FDA review and approve cigarettes sends mixed and confusing signals to the public -- creating the sense that cigarettes are safe or made safer," said Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi in a Senate Health Committee hearing.
The bill would empower the FDA to regulate tobacco, restrict tobacco advertising, prevent sale of cigarettes to minors, require stronger warning labels, bar misrepresentation of tobacco's dangers and order removal of harmful ingredients from cigarettes.
Enzi said he rejects the measure, introduced by committee Chairman Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat.
"I am no friend of Big Tobacco, and I've never taken a dime from them," said Enzi, who nonetheless argued that because the bill would not let the FDA ban cigarettes, it would be misleading.
Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, also raised questions about the basic premises of the bill.
Kennedy said the bill is widely supported by public health advocates and called for its passage to protect children from cigarette advertising and reduce smoking.
"If Congress fails to act and smoking continues at its current rate, more than 6 million of today's children will ultimately die from tobacco-induced disease," he said.
Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said he backs the bill.
"MOST DANGEROUS PRODUCT"
The bill also would set standards for "reduced-risk" tobacco products, which could not be marketed as safer than regular cigarettes without FDA verification.
The legislation has been introduced by Kennedy and Texas Republican John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record) in the Senate, along with California Democrat Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record) and Virginia Republican Tom Davis in the U.S. House of Representatives.
It has 29 co-sponsors in the Senate and 96 in the House. Republican House leaders who blocked its consideration two years ago are out of power.
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, testified at the hearing that the bill would save lives.
"Today, America's most dangerous consumer product -- tobacco -- is also the one consumer product that no federal agency oversees for health and safety purposes. This carefully crafted, thoughtfully balanced legislation would correct that glaring problem," Myers said.
The bill is also supported by Altria Group unit Philip Morris USA, maker of top-selling Marlboro cigarettes.
Industry analysts have said that Philip Morris supports it in part because the bill could help protect the company's dominant market share by muting rivals' advertising messages.
Reynolds American Inc., maker of Camel and Kool cigarettes and arch-rival of Philip Morris, has said that the Kennedy bill would restrict its ability to compete.
The FDA tried on its own over a decade ago to regulate tobacco, but the industry resisted fiercely. The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the FDA could not regulate without congressional action.
The Senate voted in 2004 to give the FDA that power, but the effort died in the House. Philip Morris backed FDA regulation then.
Also:
Senators Debate Tobacco Regulation Bill - Washington Post/AP
Top US lawmaker calls for FDA regulation of tobacco - AFP