A changing terrain in the Tobacco

In the mid-1990s it seemed unthinkable that the Food and Drug Administration might regulate tobacco, but Dean David A. Kessler, M.D., then FDA commissioner, did just that. One might have expected disappointment in March of this year when the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, overturned federal regulation of tobacco products. But Kessler found cause for optimism. “We’re in a very different place than we were five years ago,” he told The New York Times on the day of the decision.

He believes there is widespread agreement on what should constitute FDA regulation of tobacco. Tobacco should, he said, be regulated as a drug as a unique product, there must be constraints on marketing to youth, the FDA should be empowered to remove harmful agents from tobacco, and a regulatory process should encourage the development of “safer” cigarettes. He also noted that the justices acknowledged the dangers of smoking and that one tobacco company has agreed that the FDA should regulate its product. “Today’s decision really puts the issue squarely in the lap of Congress,” Kessler said. “The Supreme Court really has said that Congress has a moral responsibility to act.”