Tobacco.org

• BUYER: Opposing view: Not a job for the FDA 

This abstinence-only approach to smoking cessation is not a sound public health policy. The Waxman-Kennedy bill places new burdens on the overworked and under-resourced Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has vital obligations to ensure the safety of our food and drugs.

The FDA is already challenged by tainted food and counterfeit and adulterated drugs . . .

Moving people away from toxic smoking products to smokeless products with up to 99% less health risks is a much healthier approach. For the 96% of smokers who fail to quit smoking every year, harm reduction gives them new options to decrease their health risks. . . .

Americans are familiar with harm-reduction policies such as wearing seatbelts and choosing healthy foods. It is pragmatic to enjoin abstinence with a harm-reduction strategy to improve public health. This week, America has a chance to protect our FDA, oppose ineffective government policies, and use sound science to end our nation's tobacco epidemic by supporting an alternative to FDA regulation, one that calls for innovative, pragmatic, and science-based tobacco harm-reduction strategies.

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