PUBLISHED 3-1-2007

Logic dictates that a lethal product used as directed ought to be banned — and there is no longer any scientific doubt that tobacco is a killer.

But Congress and few people want to risk another Prohibition era — with all its attendant risks of crime, litigation, and, frankly, loss of a lot of tax revenues to federal, state and local government.
 
So the next best thing is for Congress and the Bush administration to endorse bipartisan legislation to give the federal Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products.
 
If the bill by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, is passed it will be a lifesaver.
 
If the FDA is granted the same regulatory authority as it has over other products, it could take steps to reduce tobacco’s addictive qualities, control its marketing to make it less appealing to consumers and stiffen warning labels.
 
The crucial issue would be the nicotine content of tobacco blends. Nicotine is both the most addictive substance and is among the contents that can cause artery and lung damage, among other problems. Critics have long claimed that cigarette companies manipulate the nicotine content of products in order to increase the addictive quality of the product. That makes it more difficult for smokers who want to quit.

 To the extent that tars and other harmful by-products of burning tobacco can be controlled, the FDA could pass regulations that would further reduce the effects of cigarettes on cancer, heart attacks, strokes, emphysema, bronchitis and other chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders.

The advertising and packaging issues are almost as important. Many people in all demographic groups have quit smoking since the surgeon general’s office began its anti-smoking campaign in 1964.

But as many groups make progress in quitting, tobacco advertisers make more sophisticated pitches to potential new groups of smokers. Minorities have been one target.

The most recent group to be targeted by sophisticated, ultra-fashionable designs is style-conscious young women.

According to the most recent Surgeon General’s report, “Smoking kills an estimated 440,000 Americans each year. On average, men who smoke cut their lives short by 13.2 years, and female smokers lose 14.5 years. The economic toll exceeds $157 billion each year in the United States — $75 billion in direct medical costs and $82 billion in lost productivity.”

If saving lives is not enough of an incentive to pass this legislation, economic cost — much of it underwritten by taxpayers — would be. Let’s not allow this bill to go up in smoke.