A brief just filed by the ACCP with the Supreme Court supporting the regulatory authority of the FDA over tobacco products.
Contact: Lynne Marcus, ACCP, (847)498-8331
[email protected]
ACCP PETITIONS SUPREME COURT TO UPHOLD FDA'S REGULATORY AUTHORITY OVER TOBACCO
The American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) called on the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling and uphold the authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco.
Filing an "Amicus Curiae" brief, the ACCP said "legal authority of the FDA to regulate the sale and promotion of tobacco products to children is essential, as this vulnerable population is in no position to protect itself against the addictive nature of nicotine which is causally connected to chronic disease and death." Unless the FDA has this authority, the ACCP stated, young people will be continued to be targeted by the tobacco industry thereby accelerating the likelihood that they will be plagued with chronic illnesses associated with nicotine addiction and tobacco usage.
"The preponderance of medical evidence," they added, "mandates that nicotine be treated as a drug and accordingly, that the FDA be found to have the legal authority to regulate tobacco products."
In their brief to the Supreme Court, the ACCP noted that their physician members are first-hand observers of hundreds of thousands of deaths each year caused by tobacco usage. They added: "we confront on a daily basis debilitating disease and death that result from inhalation of tobacco smoke. In this century, more people have died of the adverse effects of tobacco than in all the wars combined. It kills more people than AIDS, car accidents, alcohol, homicides, illegal drugs, suicides, and fires combined." Noting the economic implications, the ACCP said: "with over 400,000 deaths annually attributed to the effects of smoking, smoking-related diseases, such as lung cancer, emphysema, and coronary artery disease, and other cardiopulmonary diseases have become a major socioeconomic problem of transcending importance. Treatment of these diseases," they added, "will continue to drain over $800 billion from the Medicare Trust Fund."
Pointing out that there have been many giant strides made by medical science in eliminating various diseases, the ACCP said elimination or control of smoking-related diseases is thwarted by nicotine addiction that renders normal precautionary advice and warnings ineffective. "Many individuals find it exceptionally difficult, if not impossible, to stop smoking even when they want to, as do 50 percent of teenage smokers. The brief further stated, "the ACCP respectfully urges this Court to consider the medical, historical context and in particular, the powerful addictive nature of tobacco smoke in its deliberation over the nationally important issues presented by this case. The tobacco industry argues that the decision to smoke and to continuing smoking is a free choice made by adults. The main problem with this defense is that nicotine addiction is a condition that begins for most in childhood. Furthermore, the choice argument is impossible to defend in the face of nicotine addiction because children may choose to experiment with cigarettes, but they do not choose to become addicted."
In conclusion, the ACCP stated: "The younger these kids start smoking, the more powerful the addiction is to nicotine. The stronger the addiction, the harder it is to stop. The longer they smoke, the shorter they live. For these reasons, we respectfully request this Court to reverse the Fourth Circuit Court ruling and find that the FDA has the legal authority to regulate tobacco usage among minors."
The American College of Chest Physicians is a scientific and medical association which represents 15,000 members who provide clinical, respiratory, and cardiothoracic patient care in the U.S. and throughout the world
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Reporters may wish to contact Lynne Marcus at (847) 498-8331 or email her at [email protected]. A full copy of the brief may be downloaded from the ACCP Web site at http://.chestnet.org/public.affairs.
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