Rep. John Lewis Says Tobacco Regulation is Long Overdue

For the first time since the U.S. Surgeon General first revealed that smoking tobacco is a threat to Americans’ health, the U.S. Congress voted today to regulate tobacco products.  Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives voted 362 to 102, a veto-proof margin, to pass H.R. 1108 the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.  In light of the fact that African Americans are disproportionately affected by higher rates of cancer due to cigarette smoking, this bill represents a significant step forward in controlling the negative impact cigarette additives, advertising directed to children, and the languid implementation of smoking cessation programs in African American communities and other neighborhoods throughout the country.

            Reports of a split inside the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) on this issue have been unbalanced and unfair.  There is widespread agreement throughout the CBC that cigarette products should be regulated.  The only discrepancies that occurred  before the bill’s passage related how to make a strong bill even stronger, especially regarding the issue of menthol, an additive particularly attractive to African Americans.  Attempts to curtail the use of menthol by tobacco companies threatened to derail the bill entirely, and some members did not want to forego the opportunity to begin regulation of tobacco products by allowing passage to hinge entirely on one issue.

            However, an amendment was added to heighten the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) mandate to document the deleterious affects of menthol within the smoking population, paving the way for further regulation and ultimately the banning of menthol cigarettes.  This bill does empower the FDA to begin regulating menthol and to reduce or eliminate menthol in cigarettes any time after the date of enactment of this legislation if the FDA determines, based on the science, that such action would protect the public health.

            “The regulation of tobacco products is long overdue,” said Rep. John Lewis.  “Millions of Americans have died and millions are suffering with an addiction that is hard to kick because of nicotine additives and flavored cigarettes.  It is the role of government to protect its citizens and that protection must weigh corporate advantage with the safety and health of American citizens.  In this instance the Congress decided that the health of our citizens is more important than a corporation’s bottom line. ”

            H.R. 1108 is landmark legislation that applies the strongest standard for product regulation ever given to the FDA, stronger than its ability to regulate food, drugs or medical devices because of the proven damage tobacco products have caused to Americans.  Its major provisions include creating barriers and serious consequences for entities who try to market and sell tobacco to children.  It offers fast track development of smoking cessation and nicotine replacement therapy programs, bans the additives used to make flavored cigarettes, and gives regulatory authority to the FDA to clamp down on the production of mentholated cigarettes.

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Brenda Jones

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