Reporting from Washington — Capping a half-century battle with the tobacco industry, the Senate overwhelmingly approved landmark legislation Thursday that would for the first time give the government far-reaching power to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The House was expected to follow today. The legislation:HR1256:, approved by the Senate 79 to 17, would allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate ingredients in tobacco products and ban the marketing of "light" cigarettes.
In a bid to deter new smokers, the bill also imposes strict limits on full-color advertising for cigarettes, bans billboards close to schools and requires packages to carry larger warning labels.
"Joe Camel has been sentenced and put away forever," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), referring to a youth-oriented cartoon figure long used to promote Camel cigarettes.
President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law as early as next week.
A smoker who has tried unsuccessfully to quit, Obama issued a statement Thursday hailing the Senate action. "My administration is committed to protecting our children and reforming our healthcare system -- and moving forward with common-sense tobacco control measures is an integral part of that process," Obama said.
The landslide vote Thursday belied the long struggle to give the FDA power to control a product that causes 400,000 deaths a year in the United States, even though the agency long has been able to regulate seemingly innocuous products like lipstick and mascara.
"The bill is the strongest anti-tobacco measure the Congress of the United States has ever passed," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. "Its breadth would have been unimaginable five years ago."
Most tobacco companies bitterly opposed the bill but acknowledged that the vote was a measure of how much attitudes toward smoking had changed in recent years.
"As society's views on the product have changed, that's being reflected in the kind of legislation being passed," said Maura Payne, a spokeswoman for Reynolds American Inc., whose subsidiary R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. manufactures Camel, Kool and other cigarette brands.
Some tobacco-state critics have warned that the bill may put a strain on the FDA's resources, already stretched by problems in the food supply and delays in reviewing new pharmaceuticals. Skeptics also have questioned whether FDA oversight will lead consumers to believe that the product is safe.
