Senate nears passage of bill allowing FDA's tobacco rules

"It has been a long and arduous path with many political obstacles. Fortunately, the legislative journey is nearing a successful conclusion," Kennedy, who has championed the legislation for more than a decade, said in a statement entered into the Senate record.

"Passage of the legislation is much more than a victory for those of us who have long championed this cause. It is a lifesaving act for the millions of children who will be spared a lifetime of addiction and premature death," added Kennedy, who is absent from Capitol Hill while undergoing treatment for brain cancer.

The Senate voted 67-30 yesterday to limit debate on the bill, and Democrats say they have enough votes to win final passage. A final vote is expected today, said Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, who is pushing Kennedy's priorities while the senator undergoes treatment.

The House passed a very similar bill earlier this year, and resolution of the minor differences would send the bill to President Obama, who supports it.

The nation's biggest cigarette maker, Virginia-based Philip Morris USA, has long supported the bill. Its competitors oppose it, arguing that its increased regulation would restrict the introduction of new, less harmful products and unfairly solidify Philip Morris USA's position.

Congress has been trying for more than a decade to give the FDA powers over tobacco products, particularly after a 2000 Supreme Court decision that the FDA could not regulate tobacco unless Congress changed the law.

The bill would, for the first time, give the FDA powers to regulate the content of tobacco products, order the removal of hazardous ingredients, restrict the marketing and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, clamp down on sales to young people, require stronger warning labels, and stop use of characterizations such as "light" or "low tar" that give people the impression of lower health risks.

A new office would be set up in the FDA, with administrative costs paid by a fee on tobacco companies. Cigarette makers would have to register with the FDA and provide the agency with a list of all the products they make. Opposition has been led by Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, who with the state's other senator offered a competing bill that the Senate rejected on Tuesday. North Carolina is the nation's biggest tobacco producer and home to the second- and third-largest cigarette makers, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Lorillard Tobacco Company.

Burr argued that the FDA, which is in charge of ensuring the safety of products, was the wrong place to regulate a dangerous commodity. Opponents also say that the fees on cigarette companies to pay for the new FDA division will be burdensome for smaller companies.

In Kennedy's statement to his colleagues, he answered the criticism of Burr and others. "It is precisely because tobacco products are so deadly that we must empower America's premier public health protector - the FDA - to combat tobacco use," Kennedy said. "For decades the federal government has stayed on the sidelines and done next to nothing to deal with this enormous health problem."

Some 400,000 people die of tobacco-related illnesses every year.

Supporters of the legislation, including health advocacy groups, have linked reducing the financial costs of those illnesses, about $100 billion a year, to the overall drive to improve the healthcare system.

The Senate bill also includes a provision that would require the government to study the health effects of dissolvable tobacco pellets or strips that are sold in shiny plastic cases and melt in your mouth like breath mints.

R.J. Reynolds is test-marketing the products in Portland, Ore., Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis, and says they are designed for adults.

Some lawmakers disagree. They call the products tobacco candy and say they are designed with one thing in mind: to get kids hooked on nicotine. They want to give the government power to restrict sales.

"Tobacco candies are clearly designed to appeal to children through both packaging and taste," said Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat and cosponsor of the provision. "This is not a safe product. This is not safe tobacco. It is a product that, like cigarettes, causes cancer and kills."

A spokesman for R.J. Reynolds accused Merkley and other lawmakers of intentionally distorting the nature of the dissolvable products.

"It's not tobacco candy. That terminology is their terminology," said David Howard, the spokesman. "These are tobacco products . . . and their sale is age-restricted."