Tobacco Allies’ Alternative to FDA Bill Rejected

A proposed substitute for the Senate’s tobacco-regulation bill was rejected on a 60-36 vote, and the Senate is now poised to approve the landmark regulatory measure, the Associated Press reported June 10.

The alternative bill was offered by two tobacco-state lawmakers, Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), who objected to giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products. The legislators contended that FDA regulation would hurt development of safer alternatives to smoking as well as local tobacco farmers.

Instead, the Burr-Hagan bill would have created a Tobacco Harm Reduction Center in the Department of Health and Human Services. But Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), one of the sponsors of the FDA regulation bill, said the alternative had less regulatory power and didn’t do enough to prevent tobacco marketing to children.