Thursday, March 05 2009
From: Thomas Briant, Executive Director,
NATO (The National Association of Tobacco Outlets)
On March 4, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products. The bill was expected to pass easily and the committee members voted 39-13 in favor of the legislation.
The FDA bill passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee can now move to the House floor for consideration. The U.S. Senate is expected to consider similar legislation to grant the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products.
However, Representative Steve Buyer, a Republican from Indiana, offered a 200 page amendment that would (1) give the power to regulate tobacco to the Department of Health and Human Services, not the FDA, (2) focus on providing smoking cessation programs, (3) encouraging states to penalize minors for purchasing or using tobacco,(4) educating the public about the harmful effects of tobacco use and (5) requiring that the states commit up to 25% of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement annual payments made to the states by the tobacco manufacturers to fund tobacco cessation and public health programs. This amendment was defeated in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but Representative Buyer proceeded to introduce the amendment as a stand alone bill in the U.S. House.
For more information, please visit the NATO website.
