Tobacco is wacko

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should have the authority to regulate tobacco. Tobacco is a huge industry in America, contributing around $253,000 to President George W. Bush's two presidential campaigns. We all know tobacco is bad, but it should at least be regulated by a federal agency.

An estimated 1,200 Americans die each day from tobacco use, according to infact.org. Those Americans made the choice to use tobacco, though there may be other factors involved in those statistics as well. Nicotine is an addictive drug and the FDA should be able to influence its marketing and sales just as it regulates other drugs and food. Everyone ignores the warnings on the package anyway. The FDA could work to give those warnings more of an impact among tobacco users. Even the Altria Group, previously the Phillip Morris Co., agrees that the FDA should have a hand in regulation.

One negative impact of regulation is that it would help the Altria Group continue its dominance of the American tobacco market because smaller companies find it harder to compete having to work with the FDA to have their products approved.

Cigarettes are physically and mentally addictive and have negative side effects like smell or health risk. Users may find it easier to continue their tobacco addiction than to quit, despite the rising cost of a pack of smokes.

Cigarettes can cause cancer and other diseases and can legally be filled with other addictive chemicals, including ammonia, according to a list of cigarette additives found on the quitsmoking.about.com. Cigarette smoking and tobacco addictions usually start during adolescence and continue into adulthood.

Regulation will also help American tobacco farmers by allowing more American grown products on the market, instead of importing tobacco products from abroad.

A provision was introduced last summer to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, but the FDA regulation provision was dropped from the bill after failing in the House. This provision should be added onto another bill and passed in both the House and the Senate so tobacco can be regulated.