Posted on 02/17/2007 4:56:02 PM PST by FairOpinion
House and Senate lawmakers of both parties introduced sweeping legislation Thursday to subject tobacco to the kind of safety regulation that applies to medicines and food, and said prospects for action were the most favorable in years.
"This bill is long overdue, and this is the year, I believe, that regulation of tobacco by the Food and Drug Administration is going to become law," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), a longtime nemesis of the tobacco industry who heads the Government Reform Committee.
"If this gets to the House floor, [its passage] will be [by] a very large margin," said Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, Waxman's Republican cosponsor. The legislation could garner enough support to override a veto, Davis said.
Although the White House has not supported similar legislation in the past, it's not clear what position President Bush will take this time.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
When are they going to start requiring a doctor's prescription to buy eggs?
OK. Kill Phillip Morris and RJR....and leave British Tobacco. Maybee MO and RJR will go bankrupt simultaneously with Ford and GM...
Yet another reach by the government. Whee.
Welcome to the new America.
Gee, I will bet Hitlery and Obama will skirt around this issue because both of them smoke.
"There's no way to rule innocent men.
The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals.
When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them.
One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."
AYN RAND
"The stakes are vast. Smoking is the Number One cause of preventable death in America," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the chief sponsors of the bill.
FDA control of tobacco now appears more likely
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070216/NEWS01/702160428/1008/NEWS01
Pretty soon, it will be illegal to smoke at all. Thanks to libs.
"Leaders of both the House and Senate, now controlled by Democrats, are behind the proposal. And the alliance of other supporters cuts across the political spectrum, from liberals like Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to conservative Republicans like Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and John Cornyn of Texas.
In addition to Cochran and Cornyn, eight other Republican senators are co-sponsors so far. That means they and the Democrats would have the necessary 60 votes to stop any effort to block the legislation in the Senate. "
This makes me so mad. I'm going to log off for now, and go light up a big, fat stogie. Just to feel defiant and rebellious.
One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."
AYN RAND
====
Sad, but true. Ayn Rand was a visionary.
From Duke Medical University:
"The recent decision by the Food and Drug Administration to label cigarettes a nicotine delivery system has drawn cheers from many in the scientific community, including Colleen McBride, director of the cancer prevention, detection and control program at Duke University Medical Center. McBride says there is a growing body of evidence that nicotine actually relieves some symptoms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, and appears to help those with severe depression focus.
"And in fact we might put some of these people on nicotine patches or some type of nicotine replacement therapy for life, because the nicotine itself is not the bad guy - it's the mode of administration."
McBride says there is ongoing research into possible uses of nicotine in a variety of disease treatment programs. However, she says, it is very clear that the side effects of smoking, such as cancer, emphysema and heart disease, make that nicotine delivery system far too dangerous.
McBride says the benefits of nicotine itself can be compared to caffeine."
The House and Senate are dimwits. Tobacco is a poison, even containing a pesticide, nicotine. It should be regulated by the EPA. But of course, then it would be outlawed. Our brilliant representatives wouldn't want that to happen.
Well, dang, my last post about EPA seems to be inoperative.
not-gonna-happen
"Identical bills introduced in the House and Senate would give the FDA the authority to:
...
"Bar health claims about products that have not been scientifically verified. "
See my post 10. They have the 60 votes in the Senate.
ping
SMOKING
As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself,
it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep and never to refrain when awake.
- 70th birthday speech
MARK TWAIN
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