Cigarettes: Health Regulation Needed : U.S. Food and Drug Administration should get the authority to do the job

In recent years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration devoted much energy to drafting rules for food labels. Proposed new definitions of fresh , light and natural , as they apply to dressings, sauces, juices and other foods, received close scrutiny and often provoked heated debate between consumer advocates and manufacturers.

But those important issues seem almost trivial when compared to the public health threats surrounding tobacco products--which the FDA has no authority to regulate. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services, among other agencies, have only scattered authority over the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, which have the terrible distinction of being perhaps the most dangerous of legal products and at the same time largely free of regulatory control.

Cigarette smoking was once an accepted part of daily life. Some tobacco companies even claimed in their advertising that physicians endorsed their products. Now, tobacco smoke is classified as a carcinogen, both to those who use tobacco as well as to those who involuntarily inhale the smoke. Nonetheless, tobacco growers retain their considerable federal subsidies and cigarette manufacturers are exempt from federal regulations governing product content and, in many respects, sale.

It’s time for tobacco’s special status to end. The Fairness in Tobacco and Nicotine Regulation Act of 1993, introduced last week, would among other things require tobacco manufacturers to fully disclose all chemical additives in the products; authorize the FDA to reduce the level of harmful additives or to prohibit their use; require tobacco companies to document health claims for their “low”-tar and -nicotine cigarettes or stop making such claims; and require the industry to pay the cost of this regulation by imposing manufacturing fees. The bill would also set a federal minimum age, 18, for buying tobacco products. Most states, including California, already have a minimum age law, but in many of them enforcement is lax.

The new legislation is welcome. Smoking is still the leading cause of death and disability in the United State; Americans spend $65 billion a year on smoking-related conditions, ranging from disease to decreased productivity.

Congressional approval will not come easy, particularly in view of the free flow of tobacco lobby cash in Washington. But the rules embodied in the bill are not only fair but long overdue.