Pitts: FDA Wrong Agency to Regulate Tobacco

FDA Wrong Agency to Regulate Tobacco

By Congressman Joe Pitts

I have had a number of constituents ask me about a recent vote I cast against legislation (H.R. 1256) to mandate the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate tobacco sales. As someone who has always been anti-smoking, I can understand how that vote may be confusing, however, I believe it was the right vote.

The most important fact to remember in this debate is that the FDA’s job is to make sure the food and medicine we consume is safe. Tobacco is not safe at all, which makes the FDA the wrong agency to regulate it. Under this bill, for the first time ever, the FDA would approve a product that we know kills people.

The FDA is already overwhelmed with its current responsibilities. Putting more on its plate would be doing a disservice to the consumers the FDA is meant to protect. Over the past several years, the Energy and Commerce Committee, of which I am a member, has held numerous hearings where witnesses have testified and members of the Committee have stated that the FDA is not properly carrying out its current responsibilities.

In 2007, the Chairman of the Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Bart Stupak (D-MI), remarked that “the FDA continues to use 20th century tools and resources to address 21st century regulatory challenges,” and noting the FDA’s “current system is woefully inadequate.”

Also in 2007, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the author of the tobacco legislation and current Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee stated, “the warning signs are clear: FDA is an agency in crisis.”

On October 3, 2007, FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, submitted testimony to the Health Subcommittee, on which I sit, stating: “FDA shares the goal of H.R. 1108 (the bill number in the previous Congress), the ‘Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,’ – to reduce tobacco use in this country. We agree with the need to address this significant public health problem. But we have concerns with the bill’s proposed means to achieve those objectives.”

Dr. von Eschenbach then outlined three primary objections to the bill. First, the bill could undermine the public health role of FDA. Second, the many aspects of the bill may be extremely difficult for FDA to implement. And third, a significant concern about the ability to carry out the new mandate with the resources provided under the bill.

It is also worth noting that the nation’s largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris, not only supports the bill—they wrote it. This should make everyone suspicious of how effective the plan will be in reducing smoking.

I want to reduce smoking. In fact, when we considered the bill in committee, I voted for an amendment that would have given FDA the authority to ban all nicotine—the addictive substance in tobacco. Nearly all of the supporters of the bill voted against it.

I especially want to protect our children from harmful and dangerous tobacco products, and that is why I cosponsored H.R. 1432. This bill would strengthen the very successful and effective federal-state tobacco control partnership, known as the Synar Program, which works to increase the compliance rate of preventing tobacco sales to minors.

It is estimated that nearly 21 percent of all U.S. adults (approximately 45.1 million people) are cigarette smokers. In addition to the prevalence of tobacco use in the adult population, 23 percent of U.S. high school students are cigarette smokers, and about 1,140 persons younger than 18 years of age begin smoking each day. Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in this country, responsible for approximately 438,000 deaths per year. It is clear that we must take action to stem this public health crisis; however, there is no magic bullet, and, while it is critical that we do something, we must do the right thing. I simply do not believe that FDA regulation of tobacco is the right thing to do. While H.R. 1432 does not go as far as I would like, it puts us on the right track.

If the advocates of H.R. 1256 had really wanted to reduce smoking, they could have supported the amendment that would have allowed the FDA to ban cigarettes. Instead, we have allowed the largest tobacco company to write a bill that will require an already overburdened FDA to regulate and approve a product that is known to kill people. In this light, I think a no vote was the right vote.

Congressman Joe Pitts is a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District in Berks, Chester and Lancaster counties.