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Tobacco industry moves toward federal oversight 

Many details of the FDA's implementation of the new regulations still are to be determined, setting up a potential ongoing battle between supporters and opponents of tougher restrictions on the industry.

"The devil is going to be in the details," said Gerry Roerty, vice president and general counsel at Swedish Match North America, a Chesterfield County-based maker of smokeless tobacco and cigars.

Roerty said the company was "comforted" that the FDA legislation, while cracking down further on some advertising, still leaves room for the company to market its products by providing samples to adults at venues where minors are not allowed.

Other issues, such as setting product-manufacturing standards, could be more tricky.

"If [the FDA] takes a sensible approach and sticks to the language that is in the bill that says they must adopt technologically feasible standards, then that is something we will be able to work with," he said. . . .

Philip Morris' parent company, Altria Group Inc., said yesterday that the legislation is, on balance, "an important step forward to achieve the goal we share with others to provide federal regulation of tobacco products."

However, the company said the bill "is not perfect" and that it had First Amendment concerns about some of the restrictions. The company declined further comment.

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UPDATE 2-Landmark US tobacco regulation bill goes to Obama 

"Tobacco is such a serious and compelling public health problem, and we really do feel by being able to regulate tobacco and tobacco products we can reduce the burden of disease and help promote stronger smoking cessation efforts," Hamburg told reporters.

Critics have questioned whether the agency is ready to handle an entire new sector after struggling through recent troubles involving tainted food and drug safety issues.

Some experts have said the bill essentially seals Philip Morris' position as market leader. Reynolds American Inc's (RAI.N) R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and Lorillard Inc's (LO.N) Lorillard Tobacco Co. have spoken out against the plan.

"It's going to make it almost impossible for any new product to enter the market," said Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at Boston University's School of Public Health.

Critics like Siegel said the bill did not go far enough.

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Lung Cancer Alliance Issues Statement on FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill 

Lung Cancer Alliance President Laurie Fenton Ambrose called its passage an historic moment in public history.

"This legislation recognizes that nicotine is a highly addictive drug that tobacco companies have deliberately used fraudulent and deceptive marketing to hook new smokers as young as possible, and must be regulated as the dangerous drug it is." she said.

"Hopefully this will help the millions of current smokers to finally quit once and for all," she said.

"And, hopefully too this will mark a new beginning for lung cancer research and early detection. Already over half of new cases are being diagnosed in former smokers and another 15% have never smoked at all," she pointed out.

"We have to stop blaming and start addressing the disease of lung cancer in its entirety. I believe that President Obama understands this and will start moving public health policy in this direction."

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[H]opefully too this will mark a new beginning for lung cancer research and early detection. Already over half of new cases are being diagnosed in former smokers and another 15% have never smoked at all. We have to stop blaming and start addressing the disease of lung cancer in its entirety. I believe that President Obama understands this and will start moving public health policy in this direction.
Lung Cancer Alliance President Laurie Fenton Ambrose, on the FDA bill.

Statements By Kathleen G. Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services and Margaret A. Hamburg, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Regarding Passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act 

Kathleen G. Sebelius: I am pleased Congress has taken swift action to pass the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. �The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of tobacco products will be a critical piece of a coordinated effort to save lives, lower costs and reduce suffering from heart disease, cancer and other tobacco-related illness. �This is a great step towards a healthier America.

Margaret A. Hamburg: The FDA welcomes the authority given to us by Congress to regulate tobacco products. Because smoking and chewing tobacco cause serious public health problems, we view our new responsibilities as a logical extension of our public health mission to protect and to advance the health of Americans. As we do with foods, drugs and medical products, the agency will rely on the best available science in fulfilling its regulatory responsibilities concerning tobacco.

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Statement by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius On the Senate’s Passage of the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act 

Today’s vote was a victory in the fight to protect public health, and reduce the death and suffering tobacco products cause every year. This legislation is a key part of our plans to cut health care costs and reduce the number of Americans who smoke. I hope the House will act quickly and approve this legislation. Our department looks forward to implementing this critical legislation and continuing our work to reduce tobacco use.

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ADLER: The Food, Drug & Tobacco Administration - 

I hear Naderite pro-regulation types complain that the FDA is resource-starved all the time. Requiring the FDA to control the tobacco industry will only make this problem worse.

Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceberg of this bill's problems. Among other things, the federal government will have vast new control over the advertising and promotion of a legal product. The First Amendment concerns about some of the bill's requirements are very real -- and there will be years of litigation over its implementation. It's also a concern that the path to the bill's passage was paved by the cooperation of the nation's largest tobacco company, Philip Morris (aka Altria or whatever its name is now). Large incumbent firms tend to like government regulation because it squeezes out competitors. But it should also make regulation advocates wonder: If Philip Morris likes this bill, how much can it really do to control cigarette consumption and protect public health?

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STEVE BOUSER: Smoking Was More American Than Apple Pie 

"Smoking or non?"

Confronted with that question when in search of a quick restaurant meal, my wife and I let haste overcome good judgment and opted for "either." We ended up trapped in a room that felt so much like a nicotine gas chamber that we asked for carry-out boxes and fled. We could still smell it on our clothes hours later.

"I can't believe how bad it was in there," Brenda said.

"What I can't believe," I replied, "is that both of our houses must have been even worse when we were growing up, and we didn't even notice it."

North Carolina's recent decision to ban smoking from restaurants and bars is a landmark event . . .

There's a myth that we didn't know cigarettes were bad for us till the surgeon general enlightened us. But not so. Why do you think we called them "coffin nails"?

Even though I smoked for years, I never really knew why I and my friends were doing it, except that it made you look more grown up. But why were the grownups doing it? It's not as if tobacco smoke gave you some kind of pleasant narcotic rush. It was mostly a matter of continuing to do it because you got the jitters if you stopped. Weird.

When I finally did quit smoking cigarettes for good (in college, after the Army), it wasn't through any noble act of will. I just got tired of the things and woke up one morning to realize that they didn't make sense any more.

As if they ever had.

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• AUDIO: Smoke in the face of Czech anti-tobacco campaigners  

The Czech Republic has taken a step against the anti-smoking flow in the rest of Europe. While anti-smoking bans have spread across the continent in recent years, Czech MPs have proposed a relaxation of the current rules for smoking in pubs and restaurants. Anti-smoking groups say they have caved in to pressure from the powerful tobacco lobby.

Czech MPs on Wednesday backed a proposal that owners of food serving pubs and restaurants can decide from the middle of next year whether their establishments are smoking or not.

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• Teen smoking at new low  

DYING BREED: Sixteen-year-old Jayden Marshal may smoke but 66 per cent of his Wellington peers have never tried it.

The number of teens puffing on cigarettes has dropped to a record low, an annual survey of smoking habits shows.

But the survey's author has warned that new smokefree policies are needed as the impact of existing regulations fades and the reduction in teenage smoking rates slows.

Action on Smoking and Health's Year 10 Snapshot Survey 2008 shows a record 61 per cent of year 10 pupils (14- and 15-year-olds) nationwide have never tried smoking, compared with 32 per cent in 1999, when the survey began.

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Tobacco legislation clears Congress 

It was Waxman, as chairman of a health subcommittee, who chaired a set of famous hearings in 1994 in which he lined up tobacco CEOs and quizzed them under oath about the industry's use of nicotine and advertising to attract individuals to smoking. Their denials -- and subsequent disclosures -- helped to erode the industry's credibility with many voters, but with the Republican takeover in 1994, Waxman also lost his power to really effect legislation.

By contrast today, the Californian is now chairman of the full Energy and Commerce panel and his chief aide at the time of the hearings, Phil Schiliro, is the chief congressional liaison for Obama. Kennedy's own return to power in the same period has been overtaken by cancer, making it impossible for him to participate in the Senate debate this week. But he remains active, each day making phone calls to colleagues, and Pelosi cited his role in the closing House debate Friday.

Trying to spark conservative opposition, Buyer also repeatedly referred to the legislation as the "Kennedy bill," but in truth, Senate Republicans played a major role in seeing the measure through Congress. Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, the ranking Republican on Kennedy's committee, won a series of changes even after the bill had been reported from committee, and this cooperation helped Democrats win a pivotal 61-30 vote on Monday that set the tone for this week.

On each successive Senate vote, the Republican support increased and a solid majority of 23, including Enzi, broke with their leadership to support the bill. In the House, a majority of Republicans opposed the bill, but Democrats still picked up close to 70 votes from the minority.

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Does binge drinking increase the risk of lung cancer: results from the Findrink study  

Conclusion: Binge drinking is not associated with an increased risk of lung cancer among non-smokers but among smokers, it is associated with an increased risk irrespective of the number of cigarettes smoked daily. Even though the number of lung cancer cases among non-smokers was relatively small, the fact that the increased risk was limited to only smokers means that residual confounding by smoking may play a role. Larger studies are needed to clarify this association.

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Operation Rollback 

Here are three ready-to-use ways to tell your New York State Senate and Assembly Members how outrageous these tobacco registration fee hikes are. Choose one and do it now. We only have until June 22, 2009 to convince the Legislature to roll back these registration fees. Otherwise, these fee levels will stand, and apply to the 2010 registration renewal payable to the Tax Department on September 20, 2009.

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About NATO 

The National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) is an association organized to enhance the common business interests of tobacco outlets, to support the legislative interests of association members and to encourage the expansion of the tobacco outlet marketplace segment of the tobacco industry in a responsible and law abiding manner. To accomplish these objectives, NATO will:

* Take a pro-active position that informs and educates elected officials on the local, state and/or national levels about the impact that proposed legislation would have on the tobacco outlet market segment and the individual rights and the freedom of choice of the adult customers served by tobacco outlets. . . .

NATO's Board of Directors and Officers

* Andy Kerstein, Smoker's Haven, Sea Bright, NJ (NATO President)

* Mary Szarmach, Cigarette Store Corp., Boulder , CO (NATO Vice-President)

* Bob Murdock, Discount Tobacco Outlet, Athens, AL (NATO Treasurer) . . .

* Jim Colucci, Altadis , U.S.A.

* David Riser, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

* Bill Dunn, Swisher International

* Gary Poehlmann, Swedish Match

* Steve Sandman, Republic Tobacco Company

* Doug Hynek, Conwood Sales Company

* David Spross, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co.

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• Binge Drinking Increases Risk Of Lung Cancer In Smokers 

The risk of lung cancer increases for those smokers who have a tendency to binge drinking. This was found by the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KIHD), conducted at the University of Kuopio in Finland.

The KIHD study has followed up a cohort of men from eastern Finland for about 17 years. Binge drinking was found be associated with an increased risk of lung cancer among those who had smoked between 1 and 30 years regardless of how many cigarrettes a day they smoked. Meanwhile, binge drinking was not associated with any increased risk of lung cancer among non-smokers.

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Pelosi: Enabling the FDA to Regulate Tobacco a Giant Step Toward Making America Healthier 

"Today, approximately 3,500 young people will try a cigarette for the first time, and another 1,000 will become addicted and be new, regular, daily smokers. One-third of those children will eventually die prematurely because of smoking. We must do all that we can to prevent premature death from smoking. And today, we have that opportunity.

"Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support the aptly named Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. I hope that the children of America will see a strong, bipartisan vote. This legislation deserves it. And then we can send it onto the President Obama to be signed into law, hopefully no later than next week.

"Today in passing this legislation -- enabling the FDA to regulate tobacco, we are taking a giant step toward making America healthier.

"Thank you all for your leadership."

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