Implementation: Federal Tobacco Regulations to Take Effect in June

Tobacco is the “only consumer product that when used as directed kills its consumer.”  The landmark “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” enacted last year, granted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco and tobacco products. The law tightened restrictions on the sale and advertisement of tobacco products giving the FDA discretion to regulate the production and sale of menthol flavored cigarettes, and the sale of tobacco products claiming to be healthier than other tobacco products.  The law prevents the FDA from reducing the allowable level of nicotine to zero, but regulations taking effect on June 22, 2010, will dictate among other things the maximum amount of nicotine that cigarettes can contain. 

To read a New England Journal of Medicine article summarizing the law and FDA authority, click here.

To see comments of the American Legacy Foundation on menthol and other issues, click here.

To read the law, summaries, and Congressional Research Service reportson the Tobacco Control Act click here.