By Elizabeth M. Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H.
Posted: Friday, March 24, 2000

LETTER
Publication Date: March 24, 2000

To the Editor:

Re "Setback on Smoking" (editorial, March 22): Was the Supreme Court's decision to reject Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco a setback for public health? Not really. There was never a clear understanding of how the F.D.A. would use such regulatory power to reduce smoking and the diseases it causes.

Giving a federal bureaucracy undefined control over tobacco will not reduce smoking in the United States. But holding manufacturers legally accountable for marketing an inherently dangerous product without complete disclosure will accomplish that goal by giving industry a powerful incentive to disclose smoking's risks fully and specifically.

Source Notes:  
Published in the New York Times—March 24, 2000