Tobacco Bill Gives Feds Far-Reaching Powers

WASHINGTON -- Congress is sending to President Barack Obama legislation that fundamentally changes the government's ability to impact the nation's smoking habit.

The bill passed by the House for the first time Friday gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate how cigarettes and other tobacco products are made, marketed and sold. It could curb the roughly 400,000 deaths a year attributed to smoking.

The Senate passed the bill Thursday.

Special emphasis is given to decreasing smoking among young people. Anti-smoking groups say some 3,500 youngsters smoke their first cigarette every day, and of those, a thousand develop a smoking habit that can last a lifetime and result in premature death.

The 307-97 vote in the House came a day after the Senate approved the legislation on a 79-17 vote. Obama said the bill will "make history" and he's promised to sign it.

It has been called the strongest action ever taken to reduce tobacco use. Will it work, though?

NBC 4’s Colleen Marshall reported with the BOTTOM LINE.

H.B. 1256 would give unprecedented powers to the FDA to do everything from limiting nicotine levels in cigarettes to an outright ban on products such as flavored tobacco strips.

The legislation would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to ban tobacco ingredients deemed dangerous to health, prohibit use of candied and flavored cigarettes popular among young people and prohibit use of words such as "mild" or "light" that give the impression that the brand is safer.

The FDA would also require tobacco companies to reveal the contents of their products and seek approval for marketing new products. It gives the FDA power to order changes to ingredients, including tar and nicotine, to protect public health.

Cigarette smoking kills about 400,000 people a year in the United States.

Supporters said the measure would cut deaths and reduce the $100 billion in annual health-care costs linked to tobacco.

Even nonsmokers were skeptical, though.

“The only real thing that they can do is just to ban them, and we all know that that won't work. You can't prohibit something -- it just doesn't work that way. When you prohibit alcohol, look what happens. Everyone still takes drugs. So when you ban the cigarettes, which is what I think they should do, everyone still smokes,” resident Linda Briggle said.

Marshall asked smoker Morgan Allendorf if she would be less inclined to smoke if her cigarettes had less nicotine.

“No. I'd still smoke -- just smoke more,” Allendorf said.

Like millions of other smokers, Allendorf started lighting up as a teenager. She thought her older brothers looked cool when they smoked.

Cigarette opponents said every day another 3,500 kids try their first cigarette and a third of them will become addicts.

Legislators hoped new regulations would cut into those numbers.

“People are going to smoke. There are still people who roll their own cigarettes. What are they going to do regulate how much is in a bag of tobacco? They can't do it. They're crazy,” Allendorf said.

The Associated Press contributed information to this story.

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