It seemed like back to the future in Washington on Feb. 15, when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) presided at a press briefing to announce a proposal that would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate cigarettes as a drug delivery device. In the mid-1990s, Dr. David Kessler, then FDA commissioner, made a bid to do just that, but lost in a battle that ended at the Supreme Court. Since that time, congressional bids to extend FDA's purview have failed. Sen. Kennedy declared that 2007 is the lucky year. “The likelihood of passage is extremely high,” he said of his bill, which according to cosponsor Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) already has 30 allies, 11 of them Republicans. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), introducing the House companion bill, agreed that “this is the year it will become law,” noting that 100 of his colleagues are ready to sign on. The bill would give FDA more power to restrict tobacco ads and sales to children in particular, require reduction of nicotine levels, and necessitate bigger and more informative warnings on tobacco products. FDA could not ban nicotine-containing products.
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