Senator Reveals Philip Morris Co-Authored FDA Tobacco Bill [1]
Submitted by Anne Landman [2] on
Senator Mike Enzi [3], ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions [4] (HELP), confirmed [5] May 21 that cigarette maker Philip Morris [6] co-authored the bill currently under consideration in Congress, for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [7] (FDA) to regulate tobacco products. Enzi was rebuffed in efforts to amend the bill to move regulatory authority over tobacco to the Centers for Disease Control [8] (CDC), saying the CDC was more appropriate since the "FDA cures, not poisons." Enzi criticized the HELP Committee's rush to "sign a peace treaty with Philip Morris," instead of "fighting tobacco head on." He said, "My fierce opposition to smoking is a result of smoking killing my dad, and my mom, and my mother-in-law, and secondhand smoke [9] conclusively affecting me." The FDA tobacco bill [10] has been criticized by the American Association of Public Health Physicians (pdf) [11] and FDA Commissioner [12] Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach [13], as tying the FDA's hands while misleading consumers and cementing Philip Morris' market share. Philip Morris began its "Regulatory Strategy Project [14]" -- a long-term, behind-the-scenes project [15] to enact "regulations" friendly to the company -- in 1999, after the Supreme Court struck down a government-initiated effort to regulate tobacco. Philip Morris' crafting the bill behind closed doors with the National Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids [16] was also described by Roll Call [17], back in October 2004.