By Jeff Stier, Esq.
Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

LETTER
Publication Date: April 17, 2007

This letter first appeared on April 17, 2007:

(Regarding op-ed "Why I'm backing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act," March 27, by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA.) Perhaps the notion that members don't read the legislation they vote on is an outside-the-Beltway myth. But if you were asked to vote on tobacco legislation without having the opportunity to read it -- knowing only that the bill was supported by Altria (Philip Morris) and opposed by the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), how would you vote?

I hope you won't vote with Rep. Henry Waxman, whose bill could be a casebook study of the law of unintended consequences.

By treating all tobacco products equally, Rep. Waxman promotes the fallacy that all tobacco is equally dangerous. Just about every expert agrees that smokeless tobacco, which can be used as a method of harm-reduction for addicted smokers, is significantly less harmful than smoking cigarettes. So instead of giving smokers tools to quit, the bill hinders innovative approaches. No wonder the leading cigarette marketer supports this bill.

Additionally, giving the FDA authority to require lower levels of nicotine in cigarettes could actually harm public health. After all, it is the thousands of harmful chemicals that are burned and inhaled that make tobacco so deadly. Nicotine, while highly addictive, is among the least harmful elements of a cigarette. So reducing nicotine will cause smokers to inhale more of the bad stuff, just to get the same amount of nicotine they crave.

Further, just as the Surgeon General's warning label did decades ago, this type of FDA authority would give Big Tobacco a powerful piece of armor in its quest for immunity from lawsuits.

It is no wonder the FDA's Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach doesn't want Rep. Waxman telling the FDA to put a stamp of semi-approval on tobacco products.

Proponents of this legislation are right to target smoking -- they just go about it the wrong way.


Jeff Stier
Associate Director
American Council on Science and Health
New York


See also: ACSH's full report on Helping Smokers Quit: A Role for Smokeless Tobacco?