Press Release: Butt Out!
FDA REGULATION:
GOOD FOR PHILIP MORRIS, BAD FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Washington (9 April 2009) – Handing tobacco regulation over to the FDA is an epic mistake, argues political scientist Patrick Basham[1] in a timely, groundbreaking new book to be released next week. It is tantamount to giving the keys of the regulatory store to the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris.
According to Basham, “The legislation’s been cooked up out of public sight by Philip Morris, Ted Kennedy, Rep. Henry Waxman, and anti-tobacco lobbyists.” During years of covert negotiation, Philip Morris outwitted this coalition of ‘useful idiots’[2] at every turn. “Philip Morris was ruthlessly successful in pursuing its interests, but the Useful Idiot Coalition consistently failed to further its own,” Basham writes. Basham reveals how FDA regulation of tobacco serves Philip Morris’ corporate interest, not the public interest.
This book argues that giving the FDA the authority and the responsibility for a good chunk of the tobacco file is a terrible public health policy blunder, especially given the significance of US tobacco control for the rest of the world, effectively giving it a large measure of responsibility for global tobacco policy.
Kennedy, Waxman, and the public health establishment present their legislation as a masterful regulatory stroke that will end tobacco marketing, prevent kids from starting to smoke, make cigarettes less enjoyable to smoke, and reduce adult smoking. But FDA regulation of tobacco will do none of these things. Basham explains there are significant, and numerous, problems with the FDA regulating tobacco and virtually no benefits to public health.
Why is so much of the tobacco control movement, in tandem with so much of the US Congress, prepared to bring tobacco under the authority of the FDA? Over the course of his meticulously researched book, Basham answers that question. In doing so, he demonstrates what is wrong with the FDA regulating tobacco, but also suggests viable alternatives that do not sacrifice the promise of US and global tobacco control.
Basham states, “The political irony of the battle over tobacco regulation is that, unwittingly, Sen. Kennedy and Rep. Waxman have played the role of ‘useful idiots’ for Big Tobacco, namely Philip Morris.” He continues, “The public health tragedy of FDA regulation is it serves the interests of Philip Morris so well and the interest of the public in good tobacco policy so poorly.”
This need not be the case, however. “By bringing the crafting of tobacco policy out of darkened backrooms into the light of day, by taking it out of the hands of the special interests, and, most importantly, by keeping it away from the FDA, there is every opportunity to begin to create a policy that not only serves the interests of nonsmokers and smokers, but a policy that might really work,” argues Basham.
Basham’s constructive recommendations about the scope, nature, process, administrative home, and content of US tobacco policy are in sharp contrast to what is currently being rushed through the Congress under the guise of serving the interests of the American public –rather than, as is the case, the interests of Philip Morris, a few anti-tobacco groups, and their legislative water carriers, Ted Kennedy and Henry Waxman.
[1] Patrick Basham directs the Democracy Institute and is a Cato Institute adjunct scholar. He has taught tobacco regulation at the Johns Hopkins University and has written and spoken extensively about regulation of the tobacco, food, and gambling industries. He is coauthor of the UK bestseller, Diet Nation: Exposing the Obesity Crusade.
[2] Lenin famously referred to foreigners sympathetic to communism and the then-USSR as “useful idiots.” In this book, the term refers to those members of Congress and the anti-tobacco movement whose naiveté was exploited by, and to the benefit of, Philip Morris.
GOOD FOR PHILIP MORRIS, BAD FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Washington (9 April 2009) – Handing tobacco regulation over to the FDA is an epic mistake, argues political scientist Patrick Basham[1] in a timely, groundbreaking new book to be released next week. It is tantamount to giving the keys of the regulatory store to the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris.
According to Basham, “The legislation’s been cooked up out of public sight by Philip Morris, Ted Kennedy, Rep. Henry Waxman, and anti-tobacco lobbyists.” During years of covert negotiation, Philip Morris outwitted this coalition of ‘useful idiots’[2] at every turn. “Philip Morris was ruthlessly successful in pursuing its interests, but the Useful Idiot Coalition consistently failed to further its own,” Basham writes. Basham reveals how FDA regulation of tobacco serves Philip Morris’ corporate interest, not the public interest.
This book argues that giving the FDA the authority and the responsibility for a good chunk of the tobacco file is a terrible public health policy blunder, especially given the significance of US tobacco control for the rest of the world, effectively giving it a large measure of responsibility for global tobacco policy.
Kennedy, Waxman, and the public health establishment present their legislation as a masterful regulatory stroke that will end tobacco marketing, prevent kids from starting to smoke, make cigarettes less enjoyable to smoke, and reduce adult smoking. But FDA regulation of tobacco will do none of these things. Basham explains there are significant, and numerous, problems with the FDA regulating tobacco and virtually no benefits to public health.
Why is so much of the tobacco control movement, in tandem with so much of the US Congress, prepared to bring tobacco under the authority of the FDA? Over the course of his meticulously researched book, Basham answers that question. In doing so, he demonstrates what is wrong with the FDA regulating tobacco, but also suggests viable alternatives that do not sacrifice the promise of US and global tobacco control.
Basham states, “The political irony of the battle over tobacco regulation is that, unwittingly, Sen. Kennedy and Rep. Waxman have played the role of ‘useful idiots’ for Big Tobacco, namely Philip Morris.” He continues, “The public health tragedy of FDA regulation is it serves the interests of Philip Morris so well and the interest of the public in good tobacco policy so poorly.”
This need not be the case, however. “By bringing the crafting of tobacco policy out of darkened backrooms into the light of day, by taking it out of the hands of the special interests, and, most importantly, by keeping it away from the FDA, there is every opportunity to begin to create a policy that not only serves the interests of nonsmokers and smokers, but a policy that might really work,” argues Basham.
Basham’s constructive recommendations about the scope, nature, process, administrative home, and content of US tobacco policy are in sharp contrast to what is currently being rushed through the Congress under the guise of serving the interests of the American public –rather than, as is the case, the interests of Philip Morris, a few anti-tobacco groups, and their legislative water carriers, Ted Kennedy and Henry Waxman.
[1] Patrick Basham directs the Democracy Institute and is a Cato Institute adjunct scholar. He has taught tobacco regulation at the Johns Hopkins University and has written and spoken extensively about regulation of the tobacco, food, and gambling industries. He is coauthor of the UK bestseller, Diet Nation: Exposing the Obesity Crusade.
[2] Lenin famously referred to foreigners sympathetic to communism and the then-USSR as “useful idiots.” In this book, the term refers to those members of Congress and the anti-tobacco movement whose naiveté was exploited by, and to the benefit of, Philip Morris.
