As a former smoker I can attest to the deeply addictive nature of cigarettes, but the nanny state is out of control.
Big Tobacco Up in Smoke
By bernhard.warner - The Big Money
Is this the beginning of the end for Big Tobacco? Yesterday the Senate took what surely will be seen as an historic step to pass legislation putting the tobacco industry under the regulation of the Food and Drug Administration, the New York Times reports. The new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act does not ban smoking outright, but it would give the FDA power to reduce nicotine content and regulate chemicals in cigarettes. Since 1998, the industry has spent nearly $308 million in lobbying to block the bill, but now it is expected to be signed into law by President Obama as early as next week. "This is a historic step changing the nature of tobacco in society forever," one leading tobacco academic tells the NYT. Cigarette companies complain that the bill will put "severe, perhaps unconstitutional, restrictions on advertising and packaging" and could derail their business plans to develop smokeless tobacco products, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Big Tobacco Up in Smoke
By bernhard.warner - The Big Money
Is this the beginning of the end for Big Tobacco? Yesterday the Senate took what surely will be seen as an historic step to pass legislation putting the tobacco industry under the regulation of the Food and Drug Administration, the New York Times reports. The new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act does not ban smoking outright, but it would give the FDA power to reduce nicotine content and regulate chemicals in cigarettes. Since 1998, the industry has spent nearly $308 million in lobbying to block the bill, but now it is expected to be signed into law by President Obama as early as next week. "This is a historic step changing the nature of tobacco in society forever," one leading tobacco academic tells the NYT. Cigarette companies complain that the bill will put "severe, perhaps unconstitutional, restrictions on advertising and packaging" and could derail their business plans to develop smokeless tobacco products, reports the Wall Street Journal.
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