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House Passes FDA Tobacco Bill

David Savona
Posted: April 3, 2009

The House of Representatives yesterday voted to put the U.S. tobacco industry in the hands of the Food and Drug Administration. The bill, known as HR 1256, passed by a strong margin, 298-112. It will now go to the Senate, where it's expected to face a tougher fight.

The measure would limit how cigarettes are made and marketed, but cigars would not be affected in the short term, if at all. "The only products which will be regulated immediately—and be subject to user fees—are cigarettes, [roll-your-own] and smokeless tobacco," said Norman F. Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America in Washington, D.C. "Cigars and pipe tobacco could only be included if and when the FDA proposes to do so through a rule-making process." The added burden of taking on cigars, said Sharp, would not likely happen for "a long time."

For much more on this story, see Tuesday's Cigar Insider.