It's a good thing North Carolina's U.S. senators aren't likely to have their way on tobacco regulation.
Jump to full article: Raleigh (NC) News & Observer, 2009-06-07
Intro: If the FDA has shortcomings, the right answer is to build it into the world leader in food and drug safety.
Instead, our two North Carolina senators would give birth to a spanking-new government agency, with all the fuss that entails. Ultimately, they fear that the FDA would be tougher on nicotine and tobacco smoke than their new agency would be. "Devastating" is how Hagan describes the consequences of FDA regulation for North Carolina.
"Devastating" is relative, however. Tobacco's effect on health -- smoking kills more than 400,000 Americans every year -- is indeed devastating. But the industry itself has been contracting for years. Tobacco growers got a generous buyout worth billions of dollars. And the largest cigarette company, Virginia-based Philip Morris, actually supports the FDA bill.
Yet the campaign contributions keep coming (Burr is the Senate's second-leading recipient of tobacco money) and the North Carolina-based companies keep getting their full measure of representation in Washington. Tune into the Senate and see for yourself.
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