Panel: Give FDA power to regulate tobacco

WASHINGTON -- Congress should give the Food and Drug Administration new powers to regulate tobacco products -- including a plan to reduce nicotine levels -- to help slash smoking rates, an Institute of Medicine committee said yesterday . The committee also recommended steep increases in cigarette taxes , prohibitions on marketing to youths, and a nationwide ban on most indoor smoking.

Smoking rates in United States have been cut by half in the last four decades but progress has stalled. For years, the rate has stubbornly hovered at 21 percent of adults. Some 440,000 Americans still die each year due to smoking, and smoking adds $89 billion to annual healthcare bills, the institute committee found.

While such steps as raising taxes and expanding smoking bans would help, they are unlikely to permanently lower national smoking rates, the committee said. That's why it's essential to give the FDA the power to regulate the sales, advertising, and manufacturing of tobacco products, according to the report, "Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation ."

But the FDA's commissioner, in recent interviews, said he opposed such a move because he sees no way to reduce cigarettes' inherent harm.

"When a product, when used as directed, results in death, it's hard for me to see how to regulate that as being safe, and effective," Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach , FDA commissioner, told Bloomberg News in March . "What we absolutely want to avoid is a scenario in which FDA is approving something that is not safe and is not protecting and promoting public health," he said.

Still, Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Democrat, is poised to provide the FDA with sweeping regulatory authority anyway through legislation that will be the subject of a congressional hearing next month .

"As the report makes clear, broad FDA authority over all aspects of the production and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products is indispensable for preventing tobacco-related addiction diseases and death," Kennedy said. "It's disgraceful that year after year, Congress has bowed to the tobacco lobby and refused to act."

The Institute of Medicine is a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters. It has already issued reports on various facets of the tobacco problem. A University of California-San Francisco pediatrician who took part in the latest 14-member panel, said this time Congress finally appears poised to take strong action. Indoor smoking bans are sweeping across the nation. In addition, sentiment against smoking has been bolstered by such investigations as a Massachusetts Department of Public Health study that showed cigarette nicotine levels steadily inching higher and a Harvard School of Public Health determination that the nicotine increases were deliberate, to make cigarettes more addictive.

"We think the time is right," said Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher , a committee member. "It is clear what the health effects are of tobacco. Let's get the federal government, let's get Congress off of the sidelines and into action to really implement some very strong recommendations."

Philip Morris USA , maker of cigarette brands including Marlboro , Virginia Slims, and Parliament that account for half of retail market share, renewed its support of the Kennedy legislation.

FDA regulation could hasten efforts by manufacturers to "refocus their efforts to pursue reduced-harm products," Philip Morris said in a statement. "The company believes regulation should also bring predictability and clear standards to the tobacco industry in the United States."

But it opposes federal and state tax increases -- which have jumped 73 times since 2000 -- as causing "more problems than they solve." Tobacco-related taxes added $21.5 billion to federal and state coffers in fiscal year 2006 , but provide more incentive for Internet purchases, which can make their way to children, and smuggling, the company said.

Spokesmen for the US Smokeless Tobacco Co. , which markets Copenhagen, Skoal, and other products, said they were still digesting the committee's lengthy report and had no immediate comment.

But the company remains opposed to the FDA regulation because it fails to "recognize the distinct differences" between smokeless tobacco products and cigarettes.

Diedtra Henderson can be reached at dhenderson@globe.com.