Tobacco
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
Tobacco use is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in America. Every year, smoking and other tobacco use kill more than 400,000 Americans and cost the nation more than $96 billion in health care bills.
Shouldn't a product that causes so much death and disease be subject to tough regulation to protect consumers? Unfortunately, it is not. Today, tobacco products are among the least regulated. They're exempt from basic health protections that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration applies to other consumer products such as food, drugs cosmetics and even dog food. This for a product that is guaranteed to kill three out of every 10 users. The FDA can regulate a box of macaroni and cheese, but not a pack of cigarettes.
Tobacco companies take advantage of this lack of regulation to do harmful things like producing candy-flavored cigarettes designed to attract children and manipulate the level of nicotine in cigarettes to more quickly addict smokers. They also use terms like "light" and "mild" to mislead consumers into believing that certain cigarettes are safer than others.
Congress can end this special protection for Big Tobacco by passing legislation to give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.
Linda Petersen
Director, Smoke Free Fulton/Kosciusko counties
Rochester, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
Tobacco use is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in America. Every year, smoking and other tobacco use kill more than 400,000 Americans and cost the nation more than $96 billion in health care bills.
Shouldn't a product that causes so much death and disease be subject to tough regulation to protect consumers? Unfortunately, it is not. Today, tobacco products are among the least regulated. They're exempt from basic health protections that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration applies to other consumer products such as food, drugs cosmetics and even dog food. This for a product that is guaranteed to kill three out of every 10 users. The FDA can regulate a box of macaroni and cheese, but not a pack of cigarettes.
Tobacco companies take advantage of this lack of regulation to do harmful things like producing candy-flavored cigarettes designed to attract children and manipulate the level of nicotine in cigarettes to more quickly addict smokers. They also use terms like "light" and "mild" to mislead consumers into believing that certain cigarettes are safer than others.
Congress can end this special protection for Big Tobacco by passing legislation to give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.
Linda Petersen
Director, Smoke Free Fulton/Kosciusko counties
Rochester, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
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