Nicotine Fix

As members of Congress return from their summer recess this month they will consider landmark Senate-passed legislation that will give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products. The FDA jurisdiction, which is tied to a tobacco grower buyout and is part of a larger corporate tax bill, must remain in any legislation that is ultimately passed by Congress.

The amendment that includes the grower buyout and FDA regulatory authority was passed on the Senate floor by a vote of 78-15. It is, however, far from assured of enactment. A House version of the bill does not contain FDA authority and would finance the buyout through taxpayer dollars, not industry financing as the Senate version does.

Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe is a member of the conference committee that has the difficult task of reconciling the two vastly different versions of the bill, both loaded down with spending measures and other items lawmakers tagged on in hopes of passage. She and her Senate colleagues must ensure that FDA authority to regulate tobacco remains in the bill.

The Senate bill would give the FDA the authority to require tobacco companies to disclose the ingredients in their products. Currently, a composite list of ingredients is compiled by the industry and submitted to Congress. It is kept secret. The FDA could also require companies to remove ingredients that make cigarettes more harmful than they inherently are. Larger warning labels could be required, as could limits on labeling cigarettes as “light” unless they are proven to be safer than regular cigarettes.

The bill would also allow the FDA to ban flavored cigarettes, a major growth sector for the industry. The agency could also curb ads aimed at kids. All of these are important steps to rein in an industry that is responsible for more than 400,000 deaths a year in the United States.

The Senate bill is supported by major public health groups and one tobacco company, Philip Morris, the world’s largest producer of cigarettes, which many believe can absorb the additional costs associated with expected new FDA requirement, while some smaller, less diversified companies may not. The company supports the legislation because it believes the public wants regulation of the industry, said Steven Parrish, senior vice president for corporate affairs for Altria Group, the cigarette maker’s parent company. It is also not good to be in conflict with interest groups and the public health community, he added during a recent meeting here. Further, having national rules for labeling and product content is better than a patchwork of state laws.

As for the buyout provisions, ending the Depression-era quota system that props up prices, this should be financed by the cigarette makers, not taxpayers. The House bill would take $9.6 billion from the federal coffers to pay the growers. The Senate bill is much more reasonable in financing the buyout through a $12 billion assessment on cigarette makers. It would be up to the companies to decide whether to pass the fee on to smokers in the form of higher prices.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, calls the Senate bill a “marriage of convenience” because it weds the buyout to FDA regulation. It is a marriage that should not be annulled.