Jump to full article: The Daily Free Press (Boston University), 2009-10-26
Author: Pooja Bachani
Intro: Federal regulation of cigarettes will not ultimately result in a safer cigarette or decrease the number of smokers, partially due to the large part tobacco companies played in drafting the legislation, professors said.
For example, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed into law on June 22, allows the FDA to ban fruit and candy flavored cigarettes and prohibits tobacco companies from using terms such as "light" on the packages.
Harvard School of Public Health professor Gregory Connolly said the bill is merely regulating a lethal product under the approval of the tobacco industry instead of developing a safer cigarette at a discussion with three other panelists on Friday at the School of Public Health to an audience of about 50 attendees.
"This law has moved the responsibility from the hands of the industry to the hands of the FDA," Connolly said.
American Legacy Foundation founding President and chief executive officer Cheryl Healton agreed that the federal regulation of cigarettes is quite unusual. . . .
The legislation also requires tobacco companies to reduce the number of carcinogens in their products.
BU School of Public Health professor Michael Siegel said this approach would make sense if cigarettes were composed of three chemicals instead of 10,000.
"There is no way of knowing which chemical actually make a difference," Siegel said. "Instead of companies saying that their cigarette now have reduced carcinogens, now the FDA is mandating it, potentially giving the impression that cigarettes are now safer."
BU School of Public Health graduate student Dan Lustick said he enjoyed the discussion on how corporate influence in Congress affects the final draft of the bill. . . .
Democracy Institute founding director Patrick Basham said FDA regulation of cigarettes is essentially preventing the creation of a safer cigarette.
"The new FDA regulation does not accommodate the fact that smoking is here for the long run," Basham said. "It practically guarantees that no safe cigarette can reach the public."
Siegel said this law was not worth passing because the companies had too much influence on the outcome.
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