Tabacco Industry

A presidential commission recommended Friday that the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco for health reasons and that the government compensate farmers who agree to stop growing the crop. In September, then-President Clinton named tobacco farmers, anti-smoking advocates and economic development experts to the panel, with a goal of aiding the farmers financially while protecting the public from smoking hazards.

A presidential commission recommended Friday that the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco for health reasons and that the government compensate farmers who agree to stop growing the crop. In September, then-President Clinton named tobacco farmers, anti-smoking advocates and economic development experts to the panel, with a goal of aiding the farmers financially while protecting the public from smoking hazards.

Secret tobacco industry documents about nicotine addiction and the dangers of smoking could have provided a "valuable public health benefit" and saved the government "years, decades" in its smoking information campaigns if the industry had released the information, according to a sworn statement in Florida's anti-smoking lawsuit.