To our health

Monday, July 28, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

A lot is being written about how tobacco companies have been using their research on menthol-flavored cigarettes. The companies learned that young, novice smokers prefer a mild menthol taste while older, longtime smokers prefer a stronger menthol sensation.

The American Journal of Public Health published an article on this subject this month, concluding that the research was used by the tobacco companies to market brands that would create a new generation of smokers and brands that would retain their longtime customers.

This is one example of an area of inquiry that would be appropriate for the Food and Drug Administration — if it had the power to regulate tobacco.

After years of debate in Congress over whether the FDA should have this power, a bipartisan bill introduced last year in both the House and Senate is gaining traction — so much traction that the Bush administration, much more friendly to big business than to consumers, is aggressively joining the debate.

“The administration would strongly oppose this legislation,” Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt wrote in a letter a week ago. The letter went to Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the senior Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which had voted 38-12 in favor of the bill. Barton was one of the 12 voting no.

Leavitt said he feared FDA regulation of tobacco could “leave the public with the misperception that tobacco products are safe, or at least safer.”

Forgive us, but that sounds like a smoke screen, pun intended. With all that’s been written about tobacco’s dangers, and all that would be written if the FDA were given regulatory authority, the public would not likely be fooled.

Although the bill specifically allows menthol cigarettes to be sold, it does give the FDA authority over marketing and states that research by tobacco companies shall be made public. The bill would not allow the FDA to ban cigarettes. Neither could the agency ban nicotine, but it would have power to eliminate other harmful ingredients. And it could require more honest labeling and increase the visibility of warning labels.

A special unit within the FDA, funded by fees on tobacco product manufacturers based on their market share, would enforce the regulations in the bill. We support this legislation. An industry known to be responsible for countless people’s deaths every year and countless people coming down with lingering health problems should, at the least, be more strictly regulated.