Behind the FDA tobacco bill

June 16, 12:35 PMCongress ExaminerIgor Derysh

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The war on people's rights and intelligence continues to wage with the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

First of all, let's put things in perspective. Attacking the tobacco companies has always been a favorite of Congress because it is a popular thing to do. Protecting people has rarely been a priority of Congress.

Earning cheap political points by going after easy targets has always been high on Congress' agenda. Respecting the American public has not.

And so, when the recent tobacco regulation bill passed overwhelmingly in Congress it was both a cheap political ploy and another example of Congress disregarding the possible intelligence of the American people.

The bill itself transferred regulation of the tobacco industry to the Food and Drug Administration (a government agency that is run by the same people that it regulates), strengthens warning labels, demands that tobacco companies disclose their ingredients, and bans flavored cigarettes.

All flavored cigarettes except for menthol cigarettes. Menthol cigarettes of course have a considerably higher amount of harmful chemicals than others do and are targeted towards the black community just like guns. Protecting the public, my ass.

The bill is one of the countless ways that the government has attacked smoking, disregarding the idea that after decades of telling people how bad smoking is that the reason that a quarter of the country still smokes is not because they are in the dark about the side effects.

The government has already increased taxes on tobacco, a sin tax on those of us that would rather smoke than buy into the new Congress mandate of healthy living. Some states have raised their own taxes as well. In my home state of New York, the price of a single pack of cigaretts currently hovers around ten dollars.

In most states, smoking is not allowed in public places even though second hand smoke has killed zero people. The risk of a vending machine falling on top of you as you reach for a candy bar or you being attacked by a pack of gerbils in your sleep is higher than a person getting cancer from second hand smoke.

The passage of the Tobacco Control Act is just another attack on the intelligence of the American individual. We do not need to be told that cigarettes are bad for you, we are bombarded with that message all day long. What we need is a Congress that accomplishes something worthwhile or just stays the hell home instead of celebrating cheap victories in which they banned banana flavored cigarettes.