A bill giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) power to regulate tobacco products has been amended to make it more palatable to the tobacco industry, improving the odds that the measure will win passage in Congress, the Wall Street Journal reported April 1.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to pass the FDA tobacco bill this week, with a floor vote in the House anticipated in the spring. The Senate health committee has approved a similar measure, but it hasn't come up for a vote by the full Senate yet.

The measure is opposed by cigarette company R.J. Reynolds and some others in the tobacco industry, but has the support of Philip Morris, the nation's leading tobacco company. That support was won in part when lawmakers wrote into the legislation that while the FDA could regulate nicotine, the agency could not ban the drug.

Recently, other tobacco and business interests have endorsed the bill, as well. The National Association of Convenience Stores, for example, dropped its opposition to the measure when the bill after sponsors promised that fines for selling tobacco to minors could be mitigated by training programs designed to prevent such sales.

UST, the nation's largest smokeless-tobacco company, stopped fighting against the measure last month when lawmakers said that free samples of tobacco products could be distributed to adults under some circumstances. And other tobacco companies also may be ready to endorse the House bill after legislators said that certain regulations could be phased in for smaller firms.