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The 17 senators who voted against allowing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco included some of the top recipients of campaign contributions from tobacco manufacturers.
Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss is the third highest recipient of the group.
The historic anti-smoking legislation that the Senate passed Thursday sped to final congressional passage on Friday. Lawmakers and the White House quickly declared that it would save the lives of thousands of smokers of all ages. Even more important, they said, the measure could keep countless young people from starting in the first place. . . .
"I voted against the FDA tobacco bill because I'm opposed to the overregulation of an industry that's already highly regulated, from farmer to manufacturer," Chambliss said. "The bill saddles the already overburdened FDA with even more oversight duties, and does nothing to reduce the rate of smoking among Americans -- cigarettes already on the shelves will remain on the market."
Bunning, whose campaigns received $42,500 from R.J. Reynolds, says his vote reflects his state's interests. According to 2007 figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kentucky ranks second in overall tobacco exports, and the crop pumps $386.4 million into the state's economy.
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Even under the watchful eyes of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, tobacco companies such as Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc. will have opportunities to thrive, some industry observers say.
That's because the legislation passed by Congress this week giving the FDA authority to regulate the industry leaves some doors open for tobacco companies to innovate, and even to make health claims about products, something they cannot do now.
After years of political debate about FDA regulation, "we are entering a much more science-based phase now," said Scott Ballin, a tobacco and health policy consultant who has lobbied for FDA regulation of the industry for 20 years. . . .
"We think that the regulation is going to create a framework -- where one does not exist right now -- for the pursuit of tobacco products that are less harmful than cigarettes sold today," Altria spokesman Bill Phelps said yesterday. "We think that is one of the strengths of this legislation and one of the reasons that we support it."
While the best health choice for smokers is to quit, Phelps said, "our goal would be to design the best products that we can and then under federal authority make them available to adults who do not quit."
Industry observers said the FDA legislation sets a high bar for making reduced-risk claims about new tobacco products, higher even than some public health advocates wanted. . . .
Zeller said reports that Altria had a major influence over the FDA bill, and even wrote the legislation, "are way overblown."
"I believe [the bill's] strengths outweigh its weaknesses, and ultimately this will be very good for public health," he said.
Smokers’ muscles tire much more quickly than those of non-smokers, irrespective of how many cigarettes they smoke per day or how long they have smoked. In his PhD thesis, Rob Wüst concluded that smoking has an immediate effect on muscles, possibly as a result of the reduced oxygen supply and oxygen deficiency in the muscle due to substances in cigarette smoke. He studied how changes in skeletal muscles can result from smoking and will obtain his doctorate for this work on 9 April 2009.
Analysts on both sides of the regulatory fence said that tighter regulation of the tobacco industry is not likely to produce a doom-and-gloom future for the industry.
But in the long term, they agree that the new regulatory standards passed yesterday by the U.S. Senate likely will cement Philip Morris USA's status at the top manufacturer, and that extra compliance costs will be passed on to smokers. . . .
"Given that today's tobacco products are grandfathered into the legislation, and tobacco products will continue to be sold in retail outlets, we do not expect any significant immediate effects on the sector," said Christopher Collins, an associate director at Fitch Ratings. . . .
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has had more than 10 years to consider the possibility that a bill like this would pass, spokeswoman Maura Payne said.
"Thus, we have spent considerable time analyzing how best we could comply with regulations like these, what we needed to do in our organization to prepare for compliance, and what we needed to do across all of our operating companies to ensure that all were successfully able to comply," she said.
Payne said that the rule-making process and establishment of the details surrounding the bill will take some time.
"We will participate to the degree that we are able to in that process, but, at the end of the day, we intend to continue to successfully compete for the business of adults who choose to use tobacco," she said.
A Vaughan woman is believed to be the first person charged in Greater Toronto under a new provincial law that bans smoking in cars carrying children younger than 16.
The 38-year-old driver, who had three children as passengers, was pulled over on Dufferin St. at about 4 p.m. Monday. The kids were all younger than 11, said Const. Marina Orlovski of York Region police.
S. 982 contains intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) because it would preempt certain state laws governing tobacco products and it would require tribal governments that manufacture or distribute tobacco products to comply with new federal regulations. CBO estimates that the costs to state, local, and tribal governments to comply with the mandates in the bill would be small and would not exceed the threshold established in UMRA ($69 million in 2009, adjusted annually for inflation).
CBO also expects that the federal regulations authorized by this bill would result in lower consumption of tobacco products and thus would reduce the amount of tax revenues and settlement funds collected by state and local governments. However, those declines in revenues, estimated to total over $1 billion during the 2010-2014 period, would not result from intergovernmental mandates.
S. 982 would impose a number of mandates on private-sector entities. Among other things, the bill would assess a fee on companies that manufacture or import tobacco products, impose new restrictions on the sale, distribution and marketing of tobacco products, mandate disclosure of product information and grant FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. CBO estimates that the aggregate direct cost of complying with those mandates would exceed the threshold established by UMRA for private-sector mandates ($139 million in 2009, adjusted annually for inflation) in each year, beginning with 2010. . . .
Based on information from academic and other researchers, CBO estimates that S. 982 would result in a further reduction in the number of underage tobacco users of about 11 percent by 2019. CBO also estimates that implementing S. 982 would lead to a further decline in smoking by adults by about 2 percent after 10 years. CBO has incorporated these projected changes in U.S. tobacco consumption into its estimates of the impact of the bill on Medicaid spending and on receipts from excise taxes on tobacco products. . . .
Impact of FDA Regulation of Tobacco on Medicaid. CBO anticipates that FDA’s regulation of tobacco products will lead to a decline in smoking among pregnant women. That decline will reduce health care spending on pregnancies because women who refrain from smoking during pregnancy are less likely to give birth to children with low birth weights—such children have relatively high costs both at birth and afterwards—or experience other complications during pregnancy. Part of the savings from reduced complications is offset by costs associated with the additional live births resulting from a decline in miscarriages. CBO estimates federal spending for Medicaid would decrease by $93 million over the 2010-2019 period. (That savings is an estimated increment above savings previously estimated and credited to Public Law 111-3, which contains an increase in federal excise taxes on tobacco products.)
Estimating the Effect of Lower Use of Tobacco on Health Costs and Federal Spending.
A decline in smoking could affect health care spending for certain medical conditions. For example, an individual who stops smoking is less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke over a given period of time compared to one who continues to smoke, so a potential reduction in utilization of acute care services for those or other conditions could lead to cost savings. The magnitude and timing of such savings are uncertain, however. Also, a reduction in smoking may add to costs in many cases by increasing the lifespan of persons who would incur health care costs over longer periods. In those cases, government spending for other benefits such as Social Security and Medicare would also increase.
Many of those who would be affected by the legislation are under age 25, however, so the full effect on Social Security expenditures from individuals living longer and claiming more benefits would not be realized for many years. The effect on Medicare outlays is less clear. CBO expects that S. 982 would eventually raise Medicare spending by increasing longevity; that is, people who otherwise would die early due to smoking- related illnesses could end up receiving Medicare benefits for more years than in the absence of this legislation. However, as noted above, the legislation would also have cost-reducing effects. A decline in smoking attributable to the bill would improve individuals’ health, reducing annual costs for some beneficiaries.
Jacobs, a buyer for the Garden, an adult store on N. High Street, said she purchased her InLife brand e-cigarette about a month ago, when her store started selling them.
She uses it at work when she's too busy to take a smoke break and has tried it out at restaurants, bars and airports.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved e-cigarettes and has halted 17 shipments of them from coming into the country since March 1, said Karen Riley, an FDA spokeswoman. She said many of the blocked shipments arrived from China, where most e-cigarettes are made.
The FDA says e-cigarettes are "drug-delivery devices," not tobacco products, and is evaluating them on a case-by-case basis, Riley said. She acknowledged that it's possible that some overseas shipments still are passing through. . . .
There was no mention of e-cigarettes, however, in legislation approved Thursday by the U.S. Senate and yesterday by the House that would give the FDA the power to regulate the content and marketing of cigarettes, Riley said. President Barack Obama, a smoker, has said he will sign the bill.
Meanwhile, e-cigarettes are being sold in Ohio and are untouched by the statewide smoking ban. . . .
Leadbeater said his company sells only to clients who are of legal smoking age.
"There are people out there that believe that the product is being marketed to children," Leadbeater said. "Our company and companies within the association are certainly not doing that in any shape or form."
Puff N Stuff, a shop along N. High Street, has opted against selling e-cigarettes for now. "We've stayed away from it because it doesn't have the (FDA) approval," said Joseph Allen, general manager. "We have no idea what it is. It's a cartridge filled with whatever they tell you."
We've stayed away from it [the e-cig] because it doesn't have the (FDA) approval. We have no idea what it is. It's a cartridge filled with whatever they tell you.Joseph Allen, general manager of the "Puff N Stuff" in Columbus, OH.
Additional regulation of tobacco products by the U.S. Federal Government is now expected. . . .
The tobacco companies are losing product liability law suits. In late March 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in the Boeken case; therefore, Altria paid the $50 million judgment, despite claiming the judgment was excessive. Altria also lost the Bullock case; however, a new trial is scheduled to revise the amount of initial punitive damages of $28 million.
Lastly, in March 2009, Altria lost the Williams case when the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the Altria's appeal . . .
As a result of these negative developments, the ratings on both domestic tobacco companies, Altria and Reynolds American, were lowered to a Sell.
As a result of these negative developments, the ratings on both domestic tobacco companies, Altria and Reynolds American, were lowered to a Sell.Zacks. When was the last time there was a sell rating on tobacco stocks?
How long has this been going on? At least 75 years by my calculation. Research done by my father, Irving S. Wright, M.D., and Dean Moffat, M.D., in 1934 clearly showed the deleterious effect of smoking on the circulation (“Effects of Tobacco on Peripheral Vascular System,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 1934).
The research done in the 1950s by Dr. Ernest Wynder linking smoking to lung cancer was crucial to the near-eternal battle to regulate tobacco. Now, with luck, this will be carried out, and lives will be saved.
So I don’t quite get Congress’s feckless proposal to fob more tobacco regulation onto the Food and Drug Administration, which arguably cannot handle what it already has to do. If anyone understands tobacco addiction, it is the First Smoker, President Obama . . .
What is instead called for is a Prohibition-style tobacco ban . . .
Government and politicians — and smokers — should just go cold turkey on tobacco and tobacco money, for the sake of the country’s well-being. Anything less is two-faced and toothless.
As the article mentioned, only one in five Americans still smoke. Obviously, the antismoking information campaign of the last many years is having a beneficial effect. Those who choose to smoke should be left alone to do so . . .
When it comes to what Americans ingest into their bodies, our nation has become obsessed with nanny-state regulation. Enough already! It’s too bad that we aren’t half as concerned about the garbage Americans put into their minds on a daily basis.
The House moved quickly Friday to pass the Senate's tobacco bill and send it to the White House, where President Obama promised to sign it.
Mr. Obama, who himself has struggled to quit smoking, said the measure would "protect our kids and improve our public health." Appearing in the Rose Garden just moments after the House vote, he said the tobacco legislation was "a bill that truly defines changes in Washington" and one that "changes the way Washington works and who it works for." . . .
The law provides that by 2012, new, graphic warning labels must be designed and approved by the F.D.A. and occupy 50 percent of the space on each package of cigarettes. According to David Adelman, a tobacco industry analyst for Morgan Stanley, the larger warning is a key part of the new legislation, exposing the industry to increased financial risk through lower sales.
"The newer warning label requirement in the Senate bill could compromise the graphics appearance of all U.S. cigarette brands," Mr. Adelman wrote in a note to investors on Friday. . . .
Antismoking advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network were praising Congress on Friday.
"This bill is proof positive that the tobacco industry is no longer running the show on Capitol Hill and that the health of Americans is a top priority for our elected officials," the group's chief executive, John R. Seffrin, said in a statement.
Background: Starting on 01.01.2007, electronic locking devices based on proof-of-age (via electronic cash cards or a European driving licence) were installed in approximately 500,000 vending machines across Germany to restrict the purchase of cigarettes to those over the age of 16. . . .
Results: Between 2005 and 2007 the total number of tobacco sources decreased from 315 to 277 within the study area. Although the most obvious reduction was detected in the number of outdoor vending machines (-48%), the number of indoor vending machines also decreased by 8%. Adolescents changed from vending machines to other sources for cigarettes, particularly kiosks or friends (+ 31%-points usage rate, p<0.001; +35%-points usage rate, p<0.001, respectively).
Conclusions: Although the number of tobacco vending machines decreased, this has not had a significant impact on cigarette acquisition by underage smokers as they were able to circumvent this new security measure in several different ways.
As it turns out, this would be one of those occasions when the New York Times might consider reading their own paper. Stephanie Saul, reporting last year, wrote a pair of articles that take on this matter head on.
'Cigarette Bill Treats Menthol With Leniency,' May 13, 2008:
Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers, is receiving special protection as Congress tries to regulate tobacco for the first time.
The legislation, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products, would try to reduce smoking's allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes, including clove and cinnamon.
But those new strictures would exempt menthol -- even though menthol masks the harsh taste of cigarettes for beginners and may make it harder for the addicted to kick the smoking habit. For years, public health authorities have worried that menthol might be a factor in high cancer rates in African-Americans.
The reason menthol is seen as politically off limits, despite those concerns, is that mentholated brands are so crucial to the American cigarette industry. . . .
No matter the effect on public health, you wouldn't want to make Perfect the Enemy of Good, right? Despairingly, this is the attitude echoed by William Robinson, the head of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, who, in Saul's article, says: "The bottom line is we want the legislation...But we want to reserve the right to address this issue at some critical point because of the percentage of people of African descent who use mentholated products."
And it is a critical point, that Saul touched on in July's New York Times, in an article titled "Black Caucus Seeks Limits on Menthol Cigarettes": . . .
As Altria's competitors have repeatedly argued in opposing the legislation, Altria stands to retain more market share if the advertising crackdown makes it harder for other companies to improve their sales standing.
Oh, well. At least the black community can count on the Congress to revisit the issue, and perhaps decide at a later date that menthol should be treated like any other tobacco flavoring, right?
Actually, it's not even clear that the bill, as passed, will survive! Check out how Altria/Philip Morris -- good corporate citizen and risk reducer -- looms over a potential threat to the bill they so kindly helped to shepherd through.
CBO released a cost estimate yesterday for H.R. 1256, the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act. . . .
The effect of these activities on the use of tobacco products is uncertain, in part because ongoing initiatives to reduce the use of tobacco products are expected to continue under current law. In particular, public health efforts by federal, state, and local governments and by private entities have contributed to a substantial reduction in underage smoking in recent years. For example, the recent increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, from $0.39 to $1.01 per pack, as a result of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act is likely to contribute to a continuing decline in smoking.
H.R. 1256 would affect the use of tobacco products through a combination of regulatory and economic factors. . . . CBO expects that consumption of tobacco products in the United States would further decline as a result of enacting H. R. 1256. By 2019, CBO projects a decline of 11 percent among underage tobacco users and about 2 percent among adult users, as a result of this legislation. . . .
Counterintuitively, a reduction in smoking might add to the government’s costs in many cases by enabling some people to live longer and to incur health care costs over longer periods. In those cases, government spending for Social Security, Medicare, and other retirement and mandatory spending programs, would increase.
Counterintuitively, a reduction in smoking might add to the government’s costs in many cases by enabling some people to live longer and to incur health care costs over longer periods. In those cases, government spending for Social Security, Medicare, and other retirement and mandatory spending programs, would increase.CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf, in his blog on the FDA bill.