Word: tobacco
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Smoking opponents have been petitioning the FDA to regulate cigarettes as a drug ever since 1988, when the Surgeon General confirmed that the nicotine contained in tobacco is an addictive drug, creating a dependence similar to those caused by heroin and cocaine. After considering the issue for years, the FDA finally responded late last month. In a letter to the Coalition on Smoking or Health, an alliance of groups that oppose smoking, FDA Commissioner David Kessler acknowledged that there was ample reason to apply drug laws to cigarettes. Wrote Kessler: "Although technology was developed years ago to remove nicotine from...
...cigarettes without nicotine" and advising the company to "think of the cigarette as a dispenser for a dose unit of nicotine." In their defense, cigarette makers say it is no secret that they control the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. "How do you think in the past 20 years tobacco companies have produced low-nicotine cigarettes?" asks Thomas Lauria of the Tobacco Institute. He insists that cigarettes never contain higher concentrations of nicotine than found in unprocessed tobacco...
...avoid that dilemma, the fda is asking that tobacco's fate be decided on Capitol Hill. "We recognize that the regulation of cigarettes raises societal issues of great complexity and magnitude," wrote Kessler in his letter. "It is vital in this context that Congress provide clear direction to this agency...
...leveled off at 25%, and the proportion of young people who pick up the habit is starting to rise again. An estimated 3,000 U.S. children begin smoking each day. Says Northeastern University law professor Richard Daynard, who hopes Congress and the FDA will join forces to reduce tobacco use: "No one wants to make people hooked on cigarettes suffer. We just want to make sure they are not followed by future generations...
...decree that will affect 2.6 million uniformed and civilian personnel, the Defense Department banned smoking from the military workplace. And Maryland became the first state to stub out smoking in all workplaces -- including bars, restaurants and convention facilities as well as offices. In Washington, 20,000 angry smokers and tobacco-industry workers demonstrated against an Administration proposal to raise the federal excise tax from 24 cents a pack to 99 cents...