Breathing easy
Should the government regulate the safety of tobacco products? Who would benefit most?
Both proposals follow the counsel of the Institute of Medicine, which two years ago supported federal regulation of safer tobacco products. "With appropriate and comprehensive research, surveillance, education, and regulation, these products could possibly reduce the risk of tobacco-related disease," says Robert Wallace, vice chairman of the committee charged with writing the report. He says regulation should focus on disclosure of product ingredients, toxicity testing, oversight of marketing and promotional health claims, and surveillance of the products' use once they are on the market.
Consumers could benefit from FDA regulation of reduced-risk tobacco products, if only because they will no longer have to rely solely on the tobacco companies for information. But the companies themselves stand to gain enormously from federal oversight, says Richard Daynard, chairman of the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law. The courts could view FDA regulation as grounds for pre-emption: That is, if a product meets the standards set by the government, the company can't be sued for selling something dangerous. Moreover, if smokers choose to smoke conventional cigarettes, the companies would be able to argue they had offered a choice. "Before, juries were sympathetic because people were addicted," says Daynard. "Now, they can say, `You should have switched so it's your own fault.' "
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