Senate passes smokescreen bill empowering FDA

(Photo: Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency)

The U.S. Senate backed a bill Thursday to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The legislation, one of the most dramatic anti-smoking initiatives since the U.S. surgeon general's warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer, would give the FDA new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically reduce ads, require stronger package warnings, ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people and inspect manufacturers.

The tobacco industry must be fuming...pun intended.

Cigarette foes say the changes could cut into the 400,000 deaths every year caused by smoking and reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco, AP/CBS reported.

The 79-17 Senate vote sends the measure back to the House, which in April passed a similar but not identical version. The House will pass the bill again Friday (because the Senate made a few changes), then the measure will then go to President Obama for his signature, according to the report.

Opponents, led by Republican Sen. Richard Burr of the tobacco-growing state of North Carolina, argues that the FDA, which is in charge of ensuring the safety of food and drug products, is the wrong place to regulate an item that is injurious to health, AP/CBS reported. He says the bill would restrict tobacco companies from developing new products that might be less harmful to users. He unsuccessfully proposed the creation of a new agency that would both regulate tobacco products and encourage efforts to make cigarettes less harmful.

Supporters said the bill, which passed in a bipartisan 79-17 vote, would help rein in the tobacco industry and curb smoking, especially among teenagers and children, Reuters reported.

Under the Senate plan, industry user fees would fund a new FDA tobacco division to inspect manufacturers as well as set certain cigarette standards.

Here's what I don't get: why charge fees to fund inspections for manufacturing standards that in no way alter the fact that cigarettes are suicide and homicide sticks, that nicotine is highly addictive psychoactive drug that has a fifth of Americans by the balls, and that there's no such thing as corporate responsibility when it comes to the manufacture of tobacco products?

One of the most absurd concepts of all time, in my opinion, is that of a powerful, multibillion dollar industry pushing the sale of tobacco products while at the same time curtailing their use as part of pseudo-corporate responsibility programs. Are you fucking kidding me?

They proudly point out in their mission statements that their priority is long-term success of their businesses--that is, growth and profit. How can they have long-term or any success in the manufacturing and selling of tobacco products while at the same time running "cessation support" departments to reduce the use of tobacco products? Brownie points don't count when it comes to quarterly earnings per share.

Such a ridiculous concept can only lead to the cognitive dissonance so prevalent in this society as people are forced or compelled to accept as sensible something that in no way, shape or form makes any sense. It drives people nuts.

Perhaps that's why cigarette sales drop while antidepressant sales soar.

Sources: Reuters, The Associated Press, CBS News
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