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The new Congress plans to move aggressively against the tobacco industry in coming months by regulating cigarettes, raising per-pack sales taxes and ratifying an international antitobacco treaty, according to aides for key lawmakers and experts who expect the Obama administration to break a logjam on smoking issues.
The measures, which even tobacco executives acknowledge as nearly inevitable, are ones that the Bush administration opposed, vetoed or declined to act upon but that President-elect Barack Obama, himself an intermittent smoker, supported as a senator.
The steps include legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration broad authority over cigarettes for the first time. . . .
In the House, Henry A. Waxman of California, a Democrat and chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, plans to move quickly with the F.D.A. legislation
"We hope for early action on the bill in the new Congress," Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, said of the landmark legislation, which Mr. Kennedy has promoted for years.
Robert Gibbs, Mr. Obama's spokesman and incoming press secretary, said by e-mail on Sunday that Mr. Obama supported the measures when he was in Congress but had not made any decisions yet about actions on them in the White House.
Matthew L. Myers, the head of a nonprofit antismoking group, said on Monday, "The election of Barack Obama changes everything." . . .
Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress, whose new members will be sworn in on Tuesday, have also said they hope to pass legislation to raise federal cigarette taxes by 61 cents, to $1 a pack. That may even be among the economic measures awaiting Mr. Obama's signature as soon as he takes office Jan. 20, according to Congressional aides and antismoking lobbyists. . . .
As a third step against smoking, Congressional aides and lobbyists on both sides expect the new president to submit an international tobacco control treaty to the Senate for ratification. . . .
In this country, an estimated 45 million people smoke. That number is unchanged since 1990, the American Lung Association says, although the number of cigarettes smoked has declined by one-third. . . .
The Democrats who are expected to help reinforce the efforts against tobacco include Tom Daschle, the president-elect's choice for health and human services secretary, who has been an ardent opponent of the cigarette industry.
And among those whose names are being circulated as candidates to head the F.D.A. is Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the antismoking health commissioner for Baltimore and a former investigator for Representative Waxman. It was Mr. Waxman who convened the memorable 1994 hearing where seven tobacco executives swore under oath that nicotine was not addictive.
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The election of Barack Obama changes everything. . . . I think that 2009 has the potential to be the most historic year in making progress on tobacco at the federal level since the first surgeon general's report in 1964.Matthew L. Myers, "the head of a nonprofit antismoking group" (sez the Times). Quick action is expected on FDA regulation, a federal tax increase and ratification of the Framework Convention
Give Heidi Henson a badge and a police cruiser, and there's little doubt what she'd do. "Every time I see a parent smoking while driving with kids in the car, I want to pull them over and talk to them about the dangers of secondhand smoke," said Henson, the tobacco cessation coordinator at MultiCare and a member of the Tobacco Advisory Board of Pierce County.
"They need to know it's not OK to poison children," she said.
Washington smokers, harried from one sanctuary to another over the past few years, soon might lose one of their last remaining safe spots to light up.
Anti-smoking groups and health officials are rounding up sponsors for a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would outlaw smoking in vehicles when children are passengers.
Pregnant women who reduce smoking to less than half a pack a day - even if they don't quit altogether - can significantly lower their risk of delivering premature babies, according to a new Charleston Area Medical Center/West Virginia University study.
Twenty-five percent of local women who smoked eight or more cigarettes a day had pre-term deliveries, the study found. But only 10 percent of women who smoked fewer than that number of cigarettes each day had premature babies.
Also, no women who smoked fewer than eight cigarettes delivered babies classified as "very premature," before 32 weeks.
The findings are especially important in West Virginia, where about 27 percent of women smoke during pregnancy - the highest rate in the nation. . . .
Bruce Adkins, who heads the state's tobacco prevention division, said even a few cigarettes a day can poison a fetus, causing brain and muscle damage.
"We emphatically say that the only way to completely reduce the risk of fetal injury is for the mother to completely quit, Adkins said.
Overview
Fifty years ago the first lawsuits against big tobacco were filed. While it’s been nearly eight years since the landmark settlement between tobacco companies and the states, litigation continues in both federal and state courts about the hazards of smoking. This term the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether courts may impose a large damage award against Philip Morris in order to punish it for hiding the dangers of cigarettes. And state courts are deciding whether the marketing of “light” cigarettes violates state consumer protection laws. Join us on this edition of Justice Talking as we take a look at tobacco litigation and consider whether justice has been served by the lengthy legal wrangling over cigarettes.
Six months into a statewide ban on smoking in public places, business owners and smokers seem to have made adjustments.
We have not witnessed a wave of bars and restaurants closing because smokers choose not to go out.
In a Thursday Courier story, Business Editor Jim Offner talked to a number of bar and restaurant owners. Most said the Smoke-free Air Act hasn't made a significant impact on their businesses. . . .
Most lawmakers in the state agreed the smoking ban passed last year was not a good bill. We agree.
The casino exemption was one of those lawmaking head scratchers. What message does it send? Is the second-hand smoke at a casino somehow healthier than at the bowling alley? Is the casino business more important in this state than the neighborhood pub? Do casino employees have lesser rights to clean air than those in other businesses?
We expect lawmakers will revisit the smoking ban this coming session.
We would prefer the casinos go smoke-free as well, but if the Legislature can't agree on that, then let all adult establishments go back to choosing whether to allow smoking.
The state seems to have adjusted well to the smoking ban. Now let's make it work better.