I am not surprised that Rep. Eric Cantor would support the tobacco bill. Philip Morris has been a good corporate citizen and has much to do with Richmond's progress in the past.

However, your readers should not assume that this bill is a public-health bill. It is not. It is a support-Philip-Morris bill. Despite the support of the AMA, American Lung Association, and others, this bill has been set up to pull the wool over many people's eyes.

The central theory of the bill, that oversight by the FDA would be beneficial, is malarkey. The FDA has much more to oversee than it has staff to carry out its programs, even when the new positions authorized by Congress are filled.

The FDA approves new medicines for distribution to the public upon physician prescription, it oversees food produced and sold in the U.S., or imported from abroad. It is responsible for ensuring that imported pharmaceuticals meet U.S. standards. It is responsible for approving the effectiveness of both medicines and medical equipment. It has no mandate to oversee production of, and over-the-counter distribution of, poisons, which cigarettes certainly are.

All this bill would do is give a perception that cigarettes and other tobacco products are approved for sale by the FDA, but there are no scientific standards available, and there are no standards possible for the control of the various toxins in cigarettes. There is no research possible under the current experimental ethics standards in the U.S. research system.

For detailed analysis of the dangers of the bill please go to the Web site of the American Association of Public Health Physicians at www.aaphp.org and click on the Tobacco Issues link to review the analyses.

Editor's note: The writer is a former state health commissioner.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/opinion/letters.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-08-06-0025.html

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