Tobacco Regulation or: Lettuce But Not Cigarettes?

A buddy of mine finally quit

using a special savings account for motivation.  Instead of heading to the store every Monday and Friday, he'd go to the bank to deposit, to the penny, whatever his carton cost.  Every time he started to weaken, we'd throw a bank statement in his face.  Bumming is important in this scenario.  Helps to wean*.

Anyway, for the third day of Hanukkah, while we were getting crap, or tinfoil (shiny!), he got a TV big enough to make a breast bigger than your head (first thing I heard him say about it).

*My grandmother went cold turkey after 60 years, sissy.

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

12/15/11 - RIP squeaky duck. You were plush, loved and finally ripped apart after over a year.

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by: droll @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 21:20:52 PM UTC

Obama just raised taxes on working families (incomes < $250,000)

But anyone with a pack a day habit just had that question answered. ;)

Someone should poll top spending targets for that extra $13/paycheck. I think I'll give mine to a tuition grant for low income families at a private school.

Back to the smoke tax. I say let them smoke, it "weeds" out the weak and lowers the long-term public health burden.

If Obama wants to curtail smoking he should ban smokers from getting government funded lung cancer treatments ... Oxygen and Oxycontin.

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by: Libertad @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 21:44:38 PM UTC

It's related

but the "He's breaking his promise!" talking point isn't gaining any traction whatsoever. And your use of it really doesn't bode well to your "free-thinking independent" line that you're trying to walk after your posting in Arvadonian's issues diary.

It does, however, continue to prove our dear friend Mr. Ewegen's mantra rings true: how's that wide stance working out for you Libertine?

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by: redstateblues @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 21:49:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Like an good communicator, I used the title to get you to read

Then you spin off the title and the real message contained in 75% of the post.

ps what Arvadonian's diary are you referring too?

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by: Libertad @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 21:53:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Now that Limbaugh...

has kicked his Oxycotyn addiction it is my understanding that the cost for that drug has dropped dramatically....

"But when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh, shut up!' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining."  Glenn Beck  

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by: Arvadonian @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 22:12:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Even more savings for the government under my program, the cost of Oxy is down

Redstate, you cannot deny that, like corporate bailouts, publicly funded treatment for smokers is a bailout and wrong.

Just think of the added cost you have in your health financing to pay for smoking.

Hey if you want to smoke go ahead, just be prepared to suffer the consequences. One of which should not be government credits to help you overcome a problem that has been warned about for over 40 years.

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by: Libertad @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 23:07:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I have a great idea!

Let's give more tax breaks to the super rich!  

Let's allow Big Corporate bosses decide how workers can organize!

Let's increase defense spending!

Let's continue massive subsidies for the world's richest industry!

How about we put HMO's in charge of all of America's health decisions?  Let the 'invisible hand' give the citizenry it's proctology exam.


"There are a lot of reasons not to elect me." Mitt Romney in a moment of clarity

"I'm Mitt Romney and yes, Wolf, that's also my first name," Willard Mitt Romney demonstrating 'policy flexibility.'  

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by: ClubTwitty @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 23:15:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

sounds

like the policy's of the Bush administration. Don't forget about wiretapping american citizen's without a court order and throw in a little torture. Bush, Cheney and the whole lot should face trial for crimes against humanity. They have left a horrible mess for us to clean up. I wonder if they can even look themselves in the mirror?

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by: Thorntondem @ Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 02:19:35 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Important issue

For many of us who have lost family members to lung cancer, this issue is extremely personal and emotional. There isn't really much that one can say to even come close to accurately conveying the horror of bearing witness to the painful death of a loved one.

This bill finally regulates tobacco. Yesterday on the floor one of the Republicans cited a statistic that it would "only" decrease smoking by 2% over several years. I responded that even if that is true, it sure makes a difference to the families of that two percent!

The bill also sets up a process for evaluating the claims that smokeless tobacco products make (like chewing tobacco)and regulates the use of terms like "lite" and "tar free". Many people switched to "lite" or "tar free" cigarettes because they thought they were reducing their risk of cancer, that claim turned out to be untrue but there was no government agency who evaluated it at the time and the products were marketed under false pretenses.

Congressman Jared Polis

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by: Jared Polis @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 21:57:12 PM UTC

This bill sets up an independent testing group, right?

Like a special division of the FDA, payed for (at this point) solely by cigarette taxes?  I'm really asking, the spirit of the bill has been all over, but I haven't seen much on the actual plan.

I like the spirit of it, good work.

Sorry for your loss.

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

12/15/11 - RIP squeaky duck. You were plush, loved and finally ripped apart after over a year.

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by: droll @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 22:05:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

funding

Yes the bill is self-funded through a tax on tobacco product manufacturers which funds the new regulatory activities of the FDA for tobacco.

It will not impact the other important food and safety operations of the FDA.

The Republicans have been claiming that it borrows from the FDA general fund, but that is only for immediate cash flow to set it up while the tax revenues begin to flow and then the FDA general fund is paid back fully from the incoming proceeds.

Congressman Jared Polis

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by: Jared Polis @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 22:18:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Funny that people are complaining

about this and the new tax.

Thanks for verifying.

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

12/15/11 - RIP squeaky duck. You were plush, loved and finally ripped apart after over a year.

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by: droll @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 22:20:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Spinach kills.

There have been contaminated peanut and spinach based product deaths within the last couple of years.  Lettuce poses similar risks.  The existence of an FDA mitigates those kinds of harms.

But, the food regulation of the FDA is largely to regulate purity, not to protect people from the inherent nature of the product.  

The food regulation equivalent to tobacco regulation would be a law requiring bacon packaging to warn you of the risks of eating foods with a high fat content, or to require candy bar makers to disclose tooth decay risks.  Poor dietary choices also kill hundreds of thousands of people each year, and even tooth decay has been linked to heart attacks.

Drug regulation, in contrast, requires drugs to be shown to be "safe and effective" in advance of mass marketing.

Of course, tobacco regulation is somewhere in between these two extremes.  The FDA is expected to regulate more than purity, as it would with food.  But, tobacco classified as a drug would never pass the "safe and effective" test to which medicinal drugs are held.  Tobacco regulation, instead, will look something more like the alcohol regulation historically done by the ATF (and since split between the Treasury and Homeland Security Departments).

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by: ohwilleke @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 22:27:24 PM UTC