In an action long overdue, the Senate has joined the House of Representatives in passing strong regulation of the tobacco industry, and President Obama, himself a smoker fighting the habit, will sign the bill into law.
The Food and Drug Administration will have strong powers over a product that, on the average, kills about 400,000 Americans each year and about 10 million worldwide. Not only are these statistics imposing, but also about half of those who smoke will eventually be killed by the habit.
The goal should be to lower dramatically the number who smoke, and to have the tobacco industry on the defensive for the product they offer to the public. Of course, this will have an effect on people who work in the industry, but when one considers that the annual total of deaths in America from tobacco is greater than the number of Union soldiers killed during the four years of the Civil War, and sixty percent greater than the number of Confederate soldiers killed during the Civil War. and also the same percentage greater than the number of Americans killed during World War II.Â
It should be obvious that the nation needs really to heavily discourage young people from starting a lifelong habit that will kill at least 50 percent of them. So giving the FDA new powers of regulation is to be applauded and endorsed!