Letters to the Editor
Give FDA authority over tobacco products

If our government leaders are really serious about lowering health care costs and reducing unnecessary diseases, a very important step would be the passage of long overdue, bipartisan legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco products.

Tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. More than 400,000 people die from tobacco-related diseases each year. And the price tag for coping with those issues is more than $96 billion in health care bills each year.

Despite all the harm they cause, tobacco products are still exempt from health and safety regulations that apply to other products such as food and drugs. The FDA can regulate a box of macaroni and cheese or a tube of lipstick, but not a pack of cigarettes.

Earlier attempts by the FDA to assert authority over the manufacture and sale of tobacco products have been thwarted in Congress by special interest groups. This year an attempt will be made to correct that oversight with legislation enabling the FDA to neutralize some of the tobacco industry's attempts to win over new smokers. Such legislation is important to our national interest and should be supported.

If you agree with this stand of the American Lung Association and its Indiana affiliate, we hope you will contact your Congressional representatives and encourage their support of legislation to give the FDA more authority over tobacco products. Tobacco use is addictive and harmful to public health; it needs to be cut back.
              Nancy L. Turner,
              President & CEO,
American Lung Association
                        of Indiana