Philip Morris/Tobacco-Free Kids FDA Bill Resurfaces

Cigarettes laying on top of moneyA bill has reappeared and is moving rapidly through Congress that would allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. Among other things, it would restrict the ways cigarettes are marketed, require disclosure of ingredients, mandate larger warning labels and permit the FDA to require removal of harmful chemicals and additives from cigarettes. The bill was produced through years of negotiation between Philip Morris (PM) and a single health group, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and while it has more chance of passing now than ever before, critics point out that it is riddled with loopholes and doesn't go far enough. "This is a big gift to Philip Morris," said Joel Nitzkin, chair of the tobacco control task force of the American Association of Public Health Physicians. "Our initial impression was, 'Gee, this would be great.' But when we read through the entire 160 pages, we were horrified by what we saw." Nitzkin says the bill protects tobacco products currently on the market while making it harder to introduce newer, potentially less-harmful ones. Philip Morris supports the bill, but R.J. Reynolds and other PM competitors oppose it, saying that the added restrictions on marketing and product development will freeze market share where it is and hand the advantage to PM, currently the largest cigarette marketer in the U.S.

Comments

Anyone can see this is so PM can have a leg up. PM keeps crawling like a kicked dog to Tobacco Control who beats it with a stick until it withdraws and then comes whining back. I'm so mad at PM that I switched cigarette brands after 32 years so they'd never get another dime of my money.

Grow some testicular fortitude, PM. FIGHT. Stop being the whipping dog.

You already know and now so do MANY people world-wide that this has been nothing more than a huge pharmaceutical mastermind marketing strategy. Notice NICOTINE isn't banned, just tobacco? That's because Big pHARMa wouldn't be able to push their NICOTINE replacement therapy drugs if NICOTINE was banned.

This is soon going to come crashing down...all the lies about secondhand and now, Oh my God, THIRD hand smoke. When it does, everyone who uses tobacco will remember how Phillip Morris rolled over and played dead. People are quitting using your products because you SOLD OUT.

That organization is nothing but darn deceitful. It was set up to do the bidding for the industry that funded and started it, the pharmaceutical industry, specifically the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that profits from its no-smoke products. .... I assume everyone knows the RWJF was formed by a past owner of Johnson and Johnson, and JnJ now OWNS at 250 - 260 pharmaceutical companies. ... This is a real racket!