Jump to full article: National Public Radio (NPR), 2009-06-12
Author: Greg Allen
Intro: "Our goal is to design the best products that we can and then, under federal authority, make them available to adults who do not quit."
Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Philip Morris
"I would say if you're going to try to make this the first step to lead to bigger and better things in the future, then you need to not tie FDA's hands."
Michael Siegel, Boston University School of Public Health
All Things Considered, June 12, 2009 · It's been 45 years since U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry made what at the time was an earth-shaking announcement -- that smoking causes cancer. That began decades of debate over tobacco and what the government should do about it that this week culminated in a new milestone: Congress passed legislation that gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco. . . .
With years of rule-making and assessments still ahead, it's difficult to predict how stringent the FDA's regulation of tobacco will be. That uncertainty is unsettling for many on both sides of the nation's tobacco debate.
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