RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration has no authority to regulate tobacco, a federal appeals court ruled today.
The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to reverse an April 1997 ruling by U.S. District Judge William Osteen.
Osteen's ruling let stand the government's crackdown on tobacco sales to minors - by requiring stores to demand photo IDs from people in their 20s - and government regulation of vending-machine cigarette sales.
But the appellate court threw the 2-year-old regulations out. "We are of the opinion that Congress did not intend to delegate jurisdiction over tobacco products to the FDA," the court said.
"We do not dispute in this case that Congress has charged the FDA with protecting the public health and that tobacco products present serious health risks for the public," Judges H. Emory Widener and Blane Michael ruled.
But the FDA regulations went too far, the ruling said.
"Based on our examination of the regulatory scheme created by Congress, we are of opinion that the FDA is attempting to stretch the (U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic) Act beyond the scope intended by Congress," Widener wrote.
Judge Kenneth Hall dissented.
The majority opinion noted that from 1914 until its attempt to regulate tobacco in 1996, the FDA had consistently said tobacco products were outside its authority.
"In the 60 years following the passage of of the act (in 1938), the FDA has repeatedly informed Congress that cigarettes marketed without therapeutic claims do not fit within the scope of the Act," the court said.
In the landmark ruling from the heart of tobacco country, Greensboro, N.C., Osteen had rejected the industry's biggest argument: that Congress never intended for the FDA to regulate tobacco, and that the government has not proved tobacco is a drug.
"'The court finds that tobacco products fit within the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act's definition of 'drug' and 'device,"' Osteen wrote.
In a partial victory for the tobacco industry, Osteen had ruled that the government could not restrict cigarette advertising.
Comments on this posting?
Click here to post a public comment on the Trash Talk Bulletin Board.
Click here to send a private comment to the Junkman.
Copyright © 1998 Steven J. Milloy. All rights reserved on original material. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use." Site developed and hosted by WestLake Solutions, Inc.
Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of Steven J. Milloy.