From: SMOKEFREE@compuserve.com
Date: Fri, 08/08/08
Dr. Buttery also is former President of the American Association of Public
Health Physicians, and its current webmaster.
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Tobacco Bill Aids Philip Morris, Not Health
By Kim Buttery (Richmond), Letter
Richmond Times-Dispatch
August 6, 2008
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/opinion/letters.apx.-content-articles-RTD-200
8-08-06-0025.html
I am not surprised that Rep. Eric Cantor would support the tobacco bill.
Philip Morris has been a good corporate citizen and has much to do with
Richmond's progress in the past.
However, your readers should not assume that this bill is a public-health
bill. It is not. It is a support-Philip-Morris bill. Despite the support of
the AMA, American Lung Association, and others, this bill has been set up
to pull the wool over many people's eyes.
The central theory of the bill, that oversight by the FDA would be
beneficial, is malarkey. The FDA has much more to oversee than it has staff
to carry out its programs, even when the new positions authorized by
Congress are filled.
The FDA approves new medicines for distribution to the public upon
physician prescription, it oversees food produced and sold in the U.S., or
imported from abroad. It is responsible for ensuring that imported
pharmaceuticals meet U.S. standards. It is responsible for approving the
effectiveness of both medicines and medical equipment. It has no mandate to
oversee production of, and over-the-counter distribution of, poisons, which
cigarettes certainly are.
All this bill would do is give a perception that cigarettes and other
tobacco products are approved for sale by the FDA, but there are no
scientific standards available, and there are no standards possible for the
control of the various toxins in cigarettes. There is no research possible
under the current experimental ethics standards in the U.S. research
system.
For detailed analysis of the dangers of the bill please go to the Web site
of the American Association of Public Health Physicians at www.aaphp.org
and click on the Tobacco Issues link to review the analyses.
Editor's note: The writer is a former state health commissioner.
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