Kennedy To ‘Move Quickly’ on Bill Allowing FDA To Regulate Tobacco Advertising

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) last Friday promised to "move quickly" this summer on a bill he has introduced with Sens. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) that would allow the FDA to regulate tobacco advertisements, CongressDaily reports. Kennedy, who hopes to mark up the bill by July, said that the legislation would help prevent youth smoking, help smokers overcome their addiction to tobacco, make tobacco products less toxic and prevent tobacco companies from providing "misleading information" to consumers (Bernyk, CongressDaily, 6/14). "The tobacco industry has a long and dishonorable history of providing misleading information about the consequences and addictiveness of smoking. It is essential that the FDA have clear and unambiguous authority to prevent such misrepresentation in the future," Kennedy said (AP/Baltimore Sun, 6/15). He predicted that the Senate would pass the bill, adding that he expects "strong bipartisan support" for similar legislation in the House. He also predicted that the White House would support the bill. However, CongressDaily reports that "it is unlikely the bill will be passed this year, considering the busy legislative schedule for the remainder of the summer" (CongressDaily, 6/14).