Bush may block bill to regulate tobacco

WASHINGTON -The Bush administration strongly opposes legislation to give federal health authorities the power to regulate tobacco products, a top official said in a letter to Congress obtained by the Associated Press yesterday.

The letter is the strongest indication yet that the administration will try to block the broadly popular legislation, which is supported by majorities in both chambers, and lists both presidential contenders among its cosponsors.

Although a floor vote is expected in the House this summer, a protracted battle with the White House could doom chances for passing the bill this year.

"The administration would strongly oppose this legislation," Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said in a July 21 letter to Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican. Barton is the senior Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which approved the bill on a lopsided 38-to-12 vote in April.

The bill would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products, to reduce the harm from smoking.

Although the government would not be able to outlaw tobacco or ban nicotine, regulators could demand elimination of other hazardous ingredients in cigarettes. The bill represents a compromise between antitobacco activists and Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest tobacco company.

Tobacco control advocates said none of the administration's arguments in the letter were new.