WASHINGTON — In a historic shift in public health policy, Congress is poised to give the federal government sweeping new authority to regulate the manufacturing of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The legislation, long resisted by the tobacco industry, could allow consumers to see for the first time what chemicals and other additives tobacco companies put in their products. It would empower the Food and Drug Administration to put new limits on harmful ingredients and prohibit tobacco companies from marketing "light" cigarettes.
And it would give the FDA new authority to enlarge warning labels and severely restrict full-color advertising for cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Yet the victory, which eluded anti-tobacco advocates for decades, comes with challenges as well as promise, as federal officials are given never-before-used tools to control a product that is still linked to approximately 400,000 deaths every year in the United States.
Particularly tricky may be keeping up the momentum of the anti-smoking campaign even as regulators try to make cigarettes safer, an effort that could paradoxically make some smokers less inclined to quit.
"We just don't know what is going to happen," said Kenneth E. Warner, dean of the University of Michigan's School of Public Health who has studied tobacco use for decades. "This is uncharted territory."
Altria Group Inc. -- the parent company of industry leader Philip Morris, which may have an easier time maintaining its dominance in a more regulated market -- has endorsed the bill.
"FDA regulation would provide some clear guidelines for products that could potentially reduce the harm caused by smoking," company spokesman William Phelps said.
Other manufacturers oppose the legislation.
The bill, which has passed the House and is expected to clear the Senate in coming weeks, would effectively end an era in which the tobacco industry was largely exempt from the regulatory scrutiny that has been standard for food, drugs and other consumer products.
The bill also culminates a decades-long campaign by public health advocates who have chipped away at the industry's power with taxes, multibillion-dollar lawsuits and state and local limits on where smoking is allowed.
"This would be the most significant change in the federal government's approach to tobacco in history," said Matthew L. Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a leading national advocate of tougher tobacco regulation. "It would fundamentally change the way tobacco is marketed, advertised and sold in this country."
