EDITORIAL: Give FDA tobacco role 

If you're selling a product known to kill people, you face a knotty marketing problem: You must somehow persuade your customers to keep paying for it, and often pay more, but never exactly admit just how deadly it is. If you're the tobacco companies, the solution is simple: You lie.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has dealt a sharp legal blow to the nicotine fibmasters, clearing the way for a bunch of potentially costly lawsuits, the next logical step is up to Congress: It must finally pass a bill that lets the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco products and the marketing practices that sell them.

This month the Supreme Court held that smokers can use state consumer protection laws to sue over deceptive marketing. . . .

But wouldn't it be better if we had a more effective cop on the tobacco beat, preventing companies from issuing lethal lies in the first place? That's the purpose of the FDA bill, which passed the House overwhelmingly on July 30 and has a large number of sponsors in the Senate. (Before he resigned his seat, President-elect Barack Obama, who admits that quitting smoking has been tough, was among them.)

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