Yesterday, the US House of Representatives passed a tobacco bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory power over the tobacco industry. If the legislation passes in the Senate and is signed by President Barack Obama, the FDA would be able to regulate nicotine levels in cigarettes and impose restrictions on tobacco advertisements.

While nearly 1,000 public health groups support the bill, some experts say it does not go far enough. On his blog, Michael Siegel, a public health expert at Boston University, argues that the bill “permanently institutionalizes nicotine”, by prohibiting the FDA from removing the addictive ingredient from tobacco products. Although I agree with Siegel’s point that this restriction is worrying and “tie(s) the FDA’s hands”, I think that the FDA could still require nicotine levels to be lowered enough to reduce the addictive effect of cigarettes.

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