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President Barack Obama signed into law Monday an anti-smoking bill that will give the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco. Obama, who has struggled to quit smoking, signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act during an event Monday in the Rose Garden. "I know how difficult it can be to break this habit," Obama said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is set to sign into law an anti-smoking bill that will give the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco. Obama is scheduled to sign the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act during an event Monday in the Rose Garden. The law allows the FDA to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block labels such "low tar" and "light." Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.

Federal drug regulators warned consumers to stop using Zicam, a popular homeopathic cold remedy, because it could damage or destroy their sense of smell. The action is an early indication that the Obama administration is likely to take far more aggressive enforcement actions against drug companies than the Bush administration did.

The FDA says consumers should stop using Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel and related products immediately. All the over-the-counter products contain zinc. Scientists say that ingredient may damage nerves in the nose needed for smell.

Last week, another bill was passed and signed into law that takes more of our freedoms and violates the Constitution of the United States. It was, of course, done for the sake of the children, and in the name of the health of the citizenry. It’s always the case that when your liberty is seized, it is seized for your own good. Such is the condescension of Washington. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act will give sweeping new powers over tobacco to the FDA. It will require everyone engaged in manufacturing, preparing, compounding, or processing tobacco to register...

Years in the Making, Senate Votes to Give FDA Power to Regulate TobaccoTimes have changed now that even tobacco states have smoking bans. Today, after two weeks of wrangling and a decade of considering the change, the U.S. Senate endorsed increased regulation of tobacco. Senators voted 79-17 to regulate tobacco in the same way the government regulates everything else you put in your body -- from Froot Loops to aspirin. Watch "World News With Charles Gibson" tonight at 6:30 ET for the full report. At Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, organization president Matthew L. Myers called the vote "a truly historic...

Just another example of the Federal takeover of individual rights.

Based on the long-time claim by General Mills that its Cheerios cereal can lower cholesterol by 4 percent in just six weeks — when part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, of course — the Food and Drug Administration has admonished the giant breakfast cereal producer and said those claims mean the little round “o’s” of oats are to be considered a drug. Simply by indicating the cereal is intended for use as a cholesterol-lowering product, it now falls under the FDA regulations regarding drugs, and because it’s a “new” drug by definition — never mind that...

The president tapped into broadly held public sentiment in his radio address on Saturday, calling for reform at the Food and Drug Administration. But understanding why his assertion that the government can ensure "the medicines we take...don't cause harm" is simplistic can also help us understand why his choice for the person who will have that impossible responsibility is folly. In naming Dr. Joshua Sharfstein as deputy commissioner, the president decided that absolute drug safety should come first--even at the cost of the drugs' availability to sick patients. That doesn't bode well for our chances of getting the new medications...

May 5,2009 WARNING LETTER CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Refer to MIN 09 -18 Ken Powell Chairman of the Board and CEO General Mills One General Mills Boulevard Minneapolis, Minnesota 55426 Dear Mr. Powell: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed the label and labeling of your Cheerios® Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal. FDA's review found serious violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) and the applicable regulations in Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR). You can find copies of the Act and these regulations through links in FDA's home page at http://www.fda.gov....

WASHINGTON — Popular U.S. breakfast cereal Cheerios is a drug, at least if the claims made on the label by its manufacturer General Mills are anything to go by, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said. "Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug," the FDA said in a letter to General Mills which was posted on the federal agency's website Tuesday.

Appointed in 1991 to serve as acting health commissioner of New York City, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg inherited urgent problems, a spare budget and a divided and demoralized staff. The Food and Drug Administration could have a familiar feel for her. The turnaround that she engineered is exactly what the Obama administration is hoping she will achieve at the drug agency, which is reeling from a host of similar problems. On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will consider whether to confirm Dr. Hamburg as F.D.A. commissioner. The hearing was moved up a week in the wake...

All the wrong people are excited about Obama's FDA picks.Over the weekend, President Barack Obama nominated Margaret Hamburg to serve as the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Joshua Sharfstein to serve as principal deputy commissioner of the agency.The FDA regulates about a quarter of all the consumer products that Americans buy, which roughly equals $1 trillion. Many analysts predict that Hamburg and Sharfstein will divvy up their functions in the agency with Hamburg focusing chiefly on food issues and Sharfstein being charge of drugs and medical devices. What should we expect? To some extent, their...

The Obama administration has tapped Margaret A. Hamburg, a physician and former New York City health commissioner with an interest in bioterrorism, to run the struggling Food and Drug Administration, according to people familiar with the choice. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner, will serve as Hamburg's chief deputy, according to these sources. Sharfstein won national attention when he took on the drug industry and petitioned the FDA in 2007 to restrict the use of over-the-counter cough and cold medications for young children.

Reporting from Washington -- President Obama has decided to nominate former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to head the Food and Drug Administration, turning to a onetime Clinton administration official to help right the beleaguered regulatory agency, a source briefed on the choice said Wednesday. Hamburg, 53, a physician who has worked extensively on bioterrorism issues, is a senior scientist at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based foundation focused on threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Inferior toys, contaminated food supply and now our Pharmaceuticals are at risk. Included in the budget is a provision that would allow the importation of foreign, non-patented, non-FDA approved pharmaceutical drugs. It also has a provision that "supports” not mandates the FDA's new efforts on importing drugs. Imported drugs also create an artificial price control that hinders the drug companies from trying to recoup the research and development costs, leading to few new and quickly approve drugs.

During a segment on Friday's Newsroom program, CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen heralded the FDA's approval of the first human clinical trial involving embryo-destroying stem cell research. Cohen then gave a soft interview of the president and CEO of the company involved in the trial, who made the bizarre claim that new medical breakthroughs, including corneal transplants and anesthesia for women in childbirth, were supposedly "always met with concerns from the Religious Right" in the past. Cohen did not follow-up to this statement by the CEO. The segment, which began 17 minutes into the 11 am Eastern hour of...

(CNN) -- Federal regulators have cleared the way for the first human trials of human embryonic stem-cell research, authorizing researchers to test whether the cells are safe to use in spinal injury patients, the company behind the trials announced Friday. The tests could begin by summer, said Dr. Thomas Okarma, president and CEO of the Geron Corporation. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the trials, which will use human stem cells authorized for research by then-President George W. Bush in 2001. The patients will be those with the most severe spinal cord injuries, called complete spinal cord injuries. "A...

Washington, DC -- If anyone had any question about whether Barack Obama would promote the increase or reduction of abortions as president, the abortion advocates he's named to top administration posts confirm his agenda. Now, Obama appears likely to select the FDA chief who oversaw the abortion drug for a second stint.