FDA may be given control of tobacco
Posted by Hua Kul on Tuesday, 17-Jul-2007
This is a true manifestation of a Nanny State.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal agency charged with keeping food and drugs from harming people may soon be asked to take a consumer product that kills more than 400,000 people a year and make it safer.
The product is the cigarette—generally acknowledged as anything but safe. Smoking accounts for nearly one in five deaths in the United States.
That toll can be reduced, tobacco foes say, and they point to a bill that is expected to pass a Senate committee Wednesday as the tool to make it happen.
The legislation would give the Food and Drug Administration the same authority over cigarettes and other tobacco products that the regulatory agency already has over countless other consumer products. It's not something the agency necessarily wants, according to past comments by FDA commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.
The bill would let the FDA regulate the levels of tar, nicotine and other harmful components of tobacco products...
[link] [google news, fda+tobacco]
Comments [ new ]
- Re: FDA may be given control of tobacco
- Posted by Dave L on Thursday, 09-Aug-2007
While Bush has said he will veto the increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco products, and was against a similar FDA proposal in 2004, he hasn't made a stand on the current bill. There's an article with a link to the bill, Kennedy's promotional literature ('for the children') and more. [link]
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The first thing a random glance at the bill turned up was something I don't need the FDA for:
"A tobacco product shall be deemed to be adulterated if... it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance..."
...It appears that the potential impact on MYO is relatively small but I'm not sure I understand the "user fee" (92.07% on cigarettes and 0.14% on RYO).
- Re: FDA may be given control of tobacco
- Posted by Jim on Tuesday, 17-Jul-2007
As if they'll do anything useful. Just look at how helpful they've been with the wonderful drugs that have been released over the last few years. Drugs that are later found to be quite harmful.
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The simple way to make safer tobacco products is to ban the harmful fertilizers containing radioactive materials and clean up the residual radioactive material from the tobacco fields. CClick on the links for more info.
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- Re: FDA may be given control of tobacco
- Posted by Craig H on Wednesday, 18-Jul-2007
And just think how good they are doing with drugs and food!
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Heck they can't even keep our pet's food safe.
They can't keep something as simple as toothpaste safe. Heck I wonder every morning if this is the last time that I will brush my teeth. (I really don't want to be found on my bathroom floor foaming at the mouth.)
Just look at your soft drink bottle and look at the chemicals in them. Sodium benzoate has been in many soft drink for years and can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver among other things. The FDA has allowed it in the drinks for years. Can you imagine all of the other chemicals in our food that have a disastrous effect on our health that the FDA has approved as safe?
Approx. 25% of people smoke. Approx. 100% of the people eat. I think the FDA needs to worry about more important things and leave tobacco alone.
Take this pill and it will help with pain (but did we tell you it will cause a stroke or heart attack). Take this pill and lose weight (but did we tell you it can damage your heart valve...remember Fen Phen).
Tobacco - just another way for this government bureaucracy to get more funding so some of the cash can end up in somebody's freezer a la Congressman William Jefferson.
Yeah, I can rest much safer at night knowing the FDA is on a mission to make our food and drugs safer, protecting us from all the evils in the world and being our nanny. What a joke our government is!!
- Re: FDA may be given control of tobacco
- Posted by Jo on Saturday, 22-Sep-2007
I wish the growers would make them use less insecticide or an organic insecticide. I have heard that urine is used on some tobacco and also amonia to enhance the taste. Amonia and urine could not be good for your lungs.
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I heard all the tobacco companies are bought out by foreigners, so things will change. I hope it is for the better.
- Re: FDA may be given control of tobacco
- Posted by Kerry on Saturday, 22-Sep-2007
GeezUs!!!
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Folks, don't believe everything you read or hear! What a load!
- Urea
- Posted by Kerry on Sunday, 23-Sep-2007
Perhaps you meant to say "urea"? In that case, you may be correct depending on what tobacco you smoke. Please note that "urea" is not "urine", and is used in many other consumer products.
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Here's a wiki link for more info:[link]
- and ammonia
- Posted by dc on Friday, 28-Sep-2007
ammonia isnt added as a flavor enhancer. it's used chemically to crack a hydrogen molecule off the nicotine, turning it into "free-base" nicotine, which vaporizes nicely as highly bioactive nicotine.
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kinda same idea as using sodium bicarb (or even ammonia) to make freebase "crack" cocaine.
ammonia evaporates at a rediculously low temp (it boils at like -30c), which means you arent smoking the ammonia. (I'm sure it shows up as a trace somewhere in lab tests, but everything does).