The legislation was negotiated and agreed to in 2004 by Philip Morris and CTFK to monopolize the nation's leading cause of disease and death (Marlboro cigarettes) from market competition by smaller companies and by far less hazardous smokefree tobacco/nicotine alternatives. While CTFK, ACS, AHA, ALA and others claim that the legislation is essential for protecting youth from Big Tobacco and that it will save millions of lives, the CBO estimated the legislation will reduce youth smoking by only 11% over the next DECADE, and just 2% among adults. During the past decade, the MSA, cigarette tax hikes and smokefree workplace laws reduced youth smoking by more than 50%, while cigarette consumption declined 25%.

There is NO WAY to know what the outcome of FDA regulation will be, since we do not know what we will find once the secrets are revealed! Maybe it will be an 11% decrease, or maybe cigarettes as we know them will no longer be on the market. It's not just about protecting youth, it's about the unknown dangerous additives and manipulating for maximum addiction.

maybe it's just my lack of faith in the power of government, but i just don't understand why transfering the paperwork side of producing cigarettes from the ATF to the FDA does anything to help (force) people to quit, produce more(less) cigarettes or affect any real change. the people who work at the FDA are essentially the same bureocrats who work at the ATF. the only real change i see happening is the mailing address on the permit forms that philip morris has to send in.

The anti-smokers deliberately commit scientific fraud to falsely blame smoking for diseases that are really caused by smoking. THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND ITS ANTI-SMOKER PUPPET MASTERS ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO HAVE LIED TO THE PUBLIC! More than 50 studies have implicated human papillomaviruses as the cause of over 22% of non-small cell lung cancers. This equals over 30,000 cases, which is over ten times more lung cancers than the anti-smokers pretend are caused by secondhand smoke. Passive smokers are more likely to have been exposed to this virus, so the anti-smokers' studies, because they are all based on nothing but lifestyle questionnaires, are cynically DESIGNED to falsely blame passive smoking for all those extra lung cancers that are really caused by HPV. A significant proportion of lung cancers blamed on active smoking are actually caused by HPV as well. Obviously, there is a corrupt, politically-motivated coverup of a far larger cause of lung cancer than radon or secondhand smoke! As for racketeering, their accomplices in the mass media have systematically censored scientific criticism, and cynically deceived the public by falsely framing the issue as "freedom versus public health." Furthermore, the tobacco companies always let them get away with it! This is presumptive evidence of conspiracy and collusion! http://www.smokershistory.com/hpvlungc.htm

That's all fine & dandy, but what about doing something for the main scourge of society - ALCOHOL ! We've got 7.3Million teens who admit they consume liquor every day ! That has got to be put paramount in todays health destruction !!

1. I found Carol's comment confusing. Why argue over 30,000 allegedly misattributed cancers without taking on the gorilla in the room, 430,000 cigarette deaths per year (US only), 5.4 million worldwide? Meanwhile, "furthermore, the tobacco companies always let them get away with it!" Do you mean "conspiracy and collusion" to profit off 5.4 million reckless homicides? 2. Bill mentions "far less hazardous smokefree tobacco/nicotine alternatives"-- can I assume you mean Snus, e-cigarette, vaporizer, long-stemmed single-toke one-hitter? Figure it out: Snus and e-cigarette attacked because "not proven safe" (not one reported death from use or overuse of e-cigarette) while Margaret Hamburg dreams of "a safer cigarette"? 3. What about bureaucrats and uniformed gestapo arresting someone for possession of a single-toke or vaporizer labeled "cannabis paraphernalia"-- obviously legalization of cannabis will knock out this last protection of the genocidal hot-burning overdose cigarette format against deserved marketing extermination.

Carol posts the same thing in reference to every story where smoking is claimed to be bad for people. smokerhistory.com is a website that calls for the violent overthrow of the government because they arent allowed to smoke in resturants.

I personally don't feel that a mandatory set of rules will help at all. In fact if the government makes tobacco a controlled substance then we once again will be giving a lot of money to people who will bring it to the people who want it. You simply cannot legislate morality it doesn't work with drugs, and didn't work with alcohol during probation so get smart and create a negative mind set so people don't want to smoke.

This is not a solution; the FDA is a bloated arm of the government overflowing with pus. All the products the FDA 'regulates' are based on research put forth by the very companies that produce them! We are only going to have big tobacco pushing forth nonsense like 'Carol' above. With this underway we really will have 'tomacco' a la the Simpsons in no time! Just take for example Alli, from Glaxosmithkline, which despite evidence of producing pre-cancerous legions, is on store shelves for all the world to buy. Next thing we know there will be 1,2 Dinitrophenol on store shelves as a 'fitness aid' just like there was 70 years ago!