US Senate cleared the final hurdle to enable the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to partially control nicotine content and the constituents of cigarettes as well as tobacco advertising.

As expected, the FDA Tobacco Bill passed with a great majority. It now remains to be seen how the controversial Bill will be interpreted. The apparent majority see the Bill as a major step forward in tobacco control, opponents of the Bill argue that the FDA is the wrong governing body, as the FDA is being forced to “endorse” a harmful product, others have reservations as Altria (the leading tobacco company in the US) was a co-author of the Bill, with some people even going as far as calling the new Bill the “Marlboro Monopoly Bill 2009” – the assumption being that market shares are frozen by the new Bill, as the FDA is empowered to regulate and, if necessary, to ban any new products from entering the market.
The Bill now awaits President Barack Obama’s signature. (pi)