Tobacco.org

Senate Passes Landmark Bill to Regulate Tobacco  

The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to impose federal regulation on cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, passing a landmark bill to empower the Food and Drug Administration to control products that eventually kill half their regular users.

The legislation, with only minor differences from a version the House passed in April by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio. A White House spokesman, Reid H. Cherlin, said on Thursday that President Obama, who was a co-sponsor of the bill when he was in the Senate, would sign the legislation when it reached his desk. . . .

But while the F.D.A. could mandate a reduced level of nicotine, an addictive chemical, the law expressly says the agency cannot ban it. Public health advocates say outlawing nicotine would force addicts would turn to a black market or other sources.

Still, health advocates predict that F.D.A. product standards could eventually reduce some of the 60 carcinogens and 4,000 toxins in cigarette smoke, or make them taste so bad they deter users.

"This is a bill not for a one-year or two-year splash, but for a long-term impact," said Matthew L. Myers . . .

But Brendan McCormick, a spokesman for Philip Morris's parent, Altria, argued that previous marketing restrictions, like the television advertising ban imposed in 1971, had not frozen companies' market shares. He said his company supported "federal regulation and the benefits it will bring to tobacco consumers and the greater predictability and stability we think it will bring to the tobacco industry."

There are only minor differences between the Senate bill and the one the House passed in April -- the main one involving the size of the graphic warnings on cigarette packs, which would be bigger under the Senate version. . . .

A Goldman Sachs analyst, Judy Hong, wrote in a report to investors last week, "Some of the new remedies may be unpleasant but not financially disabling to the tobacco companies." . . .

The Association of National Advertisers, a trade organization, says the legislation's "massive crushing and unprecedently broad advertising restrictions" violate First Amendment protections for commercial speech. A court challenge is probable.

While cigarette consumption has declined in most Western countries, it is growing in Asia and Eastern Europe.

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Smoking Vote: Senate Votes 79-17 to Give FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco  

Watch "World News With Charles Gibson" tonight at 6:30 ET for the full report. . . .

It's a huge move that's been a long time coming.

"We have tried for ten years and we have failed," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., in a speech on the Senate floor earlier this month when the Senate voted to break a filibuster and consider the legislation. "Think what kind of a difference we could have made. How many lives we would have saved if we passed this ten years ago." . ..

Big tobacco has already been readying itself for a tougher U.S. regulatory environment by expanding its overseas marketing and developing new smokeless products.

Not surprisingly, most of the tobacco industry has opposed the bill. But there are also major exceptions to that rule. The giant Altria, parent company of Philip Morris, has taken an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach and supports the measure, though some complain they've managed to water down the bill.

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Regulating Tobacco Industry a Recent Concept  

Tobacco began spreading around the world after Christopher Columbus first encountered Native Americans, who smoked and chewed the leaf. Not until the 20th century, though, did cigarettes became the main form of tobacco consumption -- and the most lethal legal products on the market. . . .

"We had hearings on tobacco for decades," Mr. Waxman, chief sponsor of the House version of the tobacco legislation, said in an interview Wednesday. "But it was not until 1994, after tobacco executives testified and lied to us, saying cigarettes weren't harmful, nicotine wasn't addictive, they didn't manipulate the nicotine and of course they didn't target kids -- it wasn't until after that that we started getting the inside information from tobacco companies and found the opposite was true."

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Senator Dodd Leads Fight to Protect America's Kids From Tobacco 

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids today applauded U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd for leading the fight in the U.S. Senate to pass historic legislation that give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products, including the authority to crack down on tobacco marketing and sales to kids.

Senator Dodd and Senator Joe Lieberman today voted for the bill, which the Senate approved 79 to 17. The House has approved similar legislation, and Congress is expected to quickly send a final bill to President Obama, who is eager to sign it into law.

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Senate Passes Tobacco Regulation Bill  

The Senate overwhelmingly passed historic legislation Thursday that puts the tobacco industry under the regulation of the Food and Drug Administration.

Companies are weighing the impact of the bill, which they say also puts severe, perhaps unconstitutional, restrictions on advertising and packaging. Those limits, they worry, could undo business plans based on smokeless tobacco products, which they have been developing in anticipation of this day.

Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, who spearheaded the original effort to treat the nicotine in tobacco as a drug, hailed the Senate vote of 79-17. "It's as strong a bill as we could have ever imagined," he said.

He said the industry fees mandated by the bill to pay for FDA regulation will enable the regulator to strictly enforce new rules, such as a ban on candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes. "With $600 [million] to $700 million from industry to support it, I think the administration can set it up."

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Lung Association Applauds US Senate for Passing FDA Control Over Tobacco Legislation 

The American Lung Association in New York hailed U.S. Senate passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (S.982) and commended Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) for showing their support for tobacco control by voting in favor of the bill. Senate passage of the legislation means this important measure, which will give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) much-needed regulatory control over tobacco products, is closer than ever to reaching President Obama's desk.

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APHA Commends Senate Passage of Tobacco Legislation 

"The American Public Health Association applauds the Senate for today passing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The legislation will protect the health of Americans, particularly children, by giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products.

"For decades the tobacco companies have marketed their deadly products to our children, deceived consumers about the harm their products cause, and failed to take any meaningful action to make their products less harmful or less addictive. This tobacco control legislation provides an opportunity to finally end the special protection enjoyed by the tobacco industry and protect our children and the nation's health instead.

"The legislation meets the high standard established by the public health community for tobacco regulation and will give the FDA authority to effectively regulate the manufacturing, marketing, labeling, distribution and sale of tobacco products.

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R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company will seek further review of government lawsuit (PDF) 

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is disappointed that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed many of the findings of the district court in the lawsuit United States v. Philip Morris et al, particularly the finding that cigarette manufacturers violated federal racketeering laws.

“R.J. Reynolds strongly believes that neither the evidence presented at trial nor the legal standards justify a finding of liability,” said Martin L. Holton III, senior vice president and general counsel for R.J. Reynolds.

“R.J. Reynolds is pleased, however, that the Court of Appeals reaffirmed that the disgorgement of profits is not an available remedy in this case,” Holton adds. “We are also pleased that the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision not to require several of the remedies sought by the government, and ruled that some of the remedies the district court ordered were too broad.”

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Bill Would Give FDA Broad Powers to Regulate Tobacco  

The Senate approved landmark legislation today that would give the government sweeping new power to oversee tobacco, a centuries-old product used by 20 percent of Americans yet largely unregulated in this country.

The bipartisan measure, approved by a margin of 79 to 17, largely mirrors a measure passed by the House last month. The House will now review the Senate's version before a bill is sent to President Obama, a smoker who has struggled to quit and who has said he is eager to sign the bill into law. It comes 50 years after the surgeon general first warned of the health effects of tobacco.

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U.S. Senate Casts Historic Vote to Regulate Tobacco Products 

The U.S. Senate today delivered a truly historic victory for America's children and health by approving legislation to grant the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products. Forty-five years after the first U.S. Surgeon General's report linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer, the most deadly product sold in America will no longer be the least regulated product sold in America.

Today's 79-17 vote underscores the bipartisan consensus that the time finally has come to end the special protection the tobacco industry has enjoyed for too long and at such great cost to the nation's health. The House passed similar legislation 298-112 in April, and Congress is expected to quickly send a final bill to President Obama, who is eager to sign it into law. This legislation represents the strongest action Congress has ever taken to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. If effectively implemented, it will significantly reduce the number of children who start to use tobacco, the number of adults who continue to use tobacco and the number of people who suffer and die as a result.

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Senate passes the most sweeping tobacco-control bill  

Cigarettes marketed as "light," "low" tar or "mild" will be banned within a year as part of a historic bill the Senate passed 79-17 on Thursday.

The legislation, approved by the House in April, is the most sweeping tobacco-control measure ever passed by Congress. It goes now to President Obama, who has said he will sign it.

The bill, which gives the Food and Drug Adminstration the authority to regulate tobacco products, comes after more than a decade of congressional debate and a half century since the U.S. Surgeon General's 1964 landmark report linking smoking to lung cancer.

"It's long overdue," said Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.

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• Altria Group Supports Senate Approval of Tobacco Industry Regulation 

"We think today's vote by the U.S. Senate is an important step forward on this legislation. For more than eight years, Altria Group has supported tough but reasonable federal regulation of tobacco products by the Food and Drug Administration and we are glad to see the progress Congress has made toward that goal.

This legislation would establish a regulatory structure and standards for the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products that should provide important benefits to adult consumers for many years to come. We believe that adult consumers should be the primary beneficiaries of a federal regulatory framework: (1) under which all tobacco product manufacturers and importers doing business in the United States would operate at the same high standards; (2) for the pursuit of tobacco product alternatives that are less harmful than conventional cigarettes; and (3) that should provide for transparent, scientifically grounded, and accurate communication about tobacco products to consumers.

The legislation passed today is not perfect. For example, we have expressed First Amendment reservations about certain provisions, including those that could restrict a manufacturer's ability to communicate truthful information to adult consumers about tobacco products. We also believe that the resolution of certain issues would best be handled by rulemaking processes that involve sound scientific data and public participation. We have made our views known on these provisions throughout the legislative process.

On balance, however, the legislation is an important step forward to achieve the goal we share with others to provide federal regulation of tobacco products. We thus encourage the House to adopt H.R. 1256, and to send it to the President for his approval."

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• Senate approves FDA regulation of tobacco  

Government would have broad new authority to regulate tobacco products, slash nicotine and restrict advertising under historic legislation overwhelmingly approved this afternoon by the U.S. Senate.

Health advocates cheered the 79-17 passage of the bill, saying it could prevent thousands of deaths in the future. One of every five Americans uses tobacco, and smoking-related disease kills nearly half a million a year - more than any other preventable cause of death.

But North Carolina tobacco interests said new regulation would cost jobs, hurt farmers, and maintain the market dominance of tobacco giant Phillip Morris of Virginia, maker of Marlboros.

Gov. Beverly Perdue, who just signed into law a smoking ban in most public places in the state, said she nonetheless disagrees with FDA regulation because it would overstep regulatory bounds in restricting adult choices.

"I'm concerned about the direction this conversation is going," Perdue said in an interview.

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• Historic anti-smoking vote to give FDA new power 

Congress struck the government's strongest anti-smoking blow in decades Thursday with a Senate vote to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people.

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.

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 Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

"This legislation represents the strongest action Congress has ever taken to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States," declared Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids.

The 79-17 Senate vote sends the measure back to the House, which in April passed a similar but not identical version.

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• Smoke-filled rooms? 

This year, however, the Legislature simultaneously raided the tobacco settlement fund and gutted the Hawai'i Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund, which uses money from the tobacco settlement fund to run those anti-smoking programs. Senate Bill 292 diverts 25.5 percent of the settlement fund's money to the General Fund and shrinks the Prevention and Control Trust Fund's share of the settlement fund's money from 12.5 percent to 6.5 percent. SB 884, which raids various special funds to bolster the General Fund, finds that the Tobacco settlement fund has an "excess" of $20 million and appropriates it to the General Fund.

According to Evans, the tobacco settlement fund had already taken a beating from the bad economy: "The trust fund corpus was about 55 million last year, and it's been losing money ever since due to the market. The current balance is about 33 million." Subtract $20 million from that, and then cut 12.5 percent of that to 6.5 percent, and there's not a lot left for anti-smoking programs. . . .

Tracking tobacco money isn't always easy. Reynolds American, formerly RJ Reynolds, usually donates in its own name -- but the world's biggest tobacco peddler, Altria, donates under a host of names, including Altria, Altria Client Services, Altria Corporate Services, Philip Morris USA and UST Public Affairs. At least one company executive has donated in his own name. And the company also hires a whole network of lobbying firms. In Hawai'i, it uses the services of three lobbyists: Celeste Y.K. Nip, Dan Smith, and George A. "Red" Morris. Reynolds uses John Radcliffe to lobby in Hawai'i. Smith made a $2,000 donation to Honolulu councilmember Romy Cachola's unsuccessful bid for the Senate; Cachola's campaign spending report lists Smith as a District Director for Altria in Richmond, Virginia. Morris, Radcliffe and Nip distributed tens of thousands in campaign donations to dozens of candidates during the 2008 election season -- but since they represent multiple clients, it's difficult to say whether the money they pass out is tobacco money or not.

But even without counting Morris's, Radcliffe's and Nip's contributions, Altria, its subsidiaries and officers passed out at least $51,309 to Hawai'i politicians during the 2008 elections, while Reynolds chipped in at least $19,500. . . .

Cigarette paper

Who got how much and from whom

Rep. Henry Aquino

Altria Client Services $1,000

Reynolds American $1,000

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