By Sarah Green
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Oct. 11
You could call it the Whittaker Legacy.
It has been almost 20 years since then-Kansas Congressman Bob Whittaker, an Augusta Republican, made the first attempt to have tobacco regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Now, Congress is taking another stab at it and two Kansas representatives are among those backing the effort.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health last week held a hearing on
H.R. 1108
, the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,”
which would require the FDA to regulate manufacturing, marketing and distribution of tobacco products.
It would also give FDA the authority to:
* Set national standards for tobacco manufacturing;
* Oversee tobacco companies” efforts to “develop, introduce and promote less harmful tobacco products”;
* Require companies to release previously undisclosed
and future
research regarding health risks associated with tobacco;
* Tighten restrictions on tobacco sales to minors;
* Promote cessation; and
* Strengthen legislation against illicit tobacco trade.
Kansas connection
Whittaker, the last person to represent the state”s
5th Congressional District before it was reapportioned out of existence, co-sponsored
several
tobacco control bills before leaving Congress in 1990 after six terms.
“I”d say we were on the ground floor,” Whittaker said.
Whittaker, along with former U.S. Reps. Mike Synar, D-Okla., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who is now in the U.S. Senate, formed a coalition of about 30 congressmen to support tobacco control legislation.
“We got to talking about it and found that we had like beliefs on the use of tobacco, particularly in the way it was marketed to youth,” he recalled. “I was the only Republican actively involved. When we were trying to recruit our fellow congressional members, they worked their side of the aisle and I worked my side of the aisle.”
But the tobacco industry was the “800 pound gorilla,” Whittaker said, and none of the coalition”s efforts were successful.
“It was a very powerful force,” he said. “We knew we had an uphill battle from day one
and we did.”
Whittaker, who is 68, retired, and living in Colorado, said he was pleased that the tobacco control movement now has greater sway.
“I”ve been satisfied since retiring that the momentum of smoke-free environments has gained the foothold that is has,” he said. “Even 15 years ago, nobody could have imagined that. I”d like to think that I had a hand in influencing that direction. There were a lot of other people and organizations involved, and I don”t have anything to hang on the wall as far as what I accomplished, but the trend has continued.”
FDA concerned; Kansas sponsors hopeful
The bill heard Oct. 3 was opposed by FDA Commissioner
Andrew C. von Eschenbach, who said he was concerned that regulating tobacco would overstretch the agency”s resources.
“By far, the most daunting challenge would be to develop the expertise necessary to carry out the functions called for by this bill,” he wrote in
a prepared statement to the committee. “Creating the appropriate organizational structure and hiring experts in the field of tobacco control and related sciences and other experts needed to staff the program at every level is considerably more challenging than simply filling identified vacancies in an existing program.”
He also said the bill would force the agency to approve a substance that is harmful when used as intended.
“FDA cannot “approve” a tobacco product in this context, because there is no scientific context to determine benefit to outweigh the numerous risks,” he testified. “It will be very challenging to transform existing science into a logical regulatory structure.”
But the bill”s supporters said regulating tobacco is necessary to protect public health. A
study released earlier this year
by the Institute of Medicine called for the FDA to take regulatory control of the substance.
“It is true that tobacco is different from the other products regulated by FDA,” said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in opening remarks to the subcommittee. “I think we can all agree that tobacco will never meet the “safe and effective” standard applied to drugs and medical devices.
So the bill establishes a new standard, calling on FDA to regulate tobacco in a manner “appropriate for the protection of the public health.”
This is a different standard, but different doesn”t mean impossible or inconsistent.”
Scott Ballin, speaking in support of the bill for the Alliance for Health, Economic and Agricultural Development, reminded subcommittee members of the efforts Whittaker and others made years ago.
“This is an issue that has languished in Congress for far too long,” he said. “It is now over 15 years since I had the privilege of working with two members of this subcommittee, Congressman Mike Synar and Congressman Bob Whittaker, in introducing what was the first legislation in Congress to give FDA oversight over tobacco products.”
Kansas U.S. Reps. Nancy Boyda, 2nd District Democrat, and Dennis Moore, 3rd District Democrat, are co-sponsors of the new bill.
“I think the federal government should work to protect the public from any hazardous product, whether the danger is lead paint or contaminated meat or tobacco,” Boyda said. “Allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco products is a way to promote good health and keep consumers safe.”
“From our perspective, tobacco is one of the only entities ingested into anyone”s body that”s not regulated by the FDA,” said Mary Jayne Hellebust, executive director of the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition. “If the FDA regulates tobacco, coupled with a significant tax increase that might come from the passage of the State Children”s Health Insurance Program legislation, it would have an profound impact on reducing tobacco use and smoking prevalence in the country.”
The SCHIP legislation, vetoed last week by the president, called for an increase in the federal tobacco tax from 39 cents to $1 per pack.
In Kansas, about 356,000 adults smoke, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment”s 2006 tobacco use status report. One in three high school students also say they smoke regularly.
The legislation to give FDA regulatory control isn”t yet scheduled for subcommittee markup, but likely will be this fall, committee staffers said.
-Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. She can be reached at
sgreen@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 118.