Long desired regulation of tobacco is law

Forty-Five years after the U.S. Surgeon General targeted tobacco as a menace to public health, Congress has finally empowered the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the toxic substance.

Do not stop there. Tobacco survives as a lethal and legal substance, but there is no good reason for taxpayers to continue to subsidize its production. Wean this known hazard off federal welfare.

Cigarette smoking and tobacco products claim an estimated 400,000 lives a year. The death toll over generations is staggering, but the new law offers hope for the 3,500 children who take up the habit every day.

After fighting and losing to Big Tobacco for nearly half a century, proponents of regulation admit to being stunned by the size of their victory.

The FDA — and the new tobacco center to be created within the agency — will regulate the content, sale, marketing and manufacturing of tobacco products.

The perversity of the enterprise is reflected in what the new law will ban, such as candy- and fruit-flavored gimmicks to addict new users. Words such as light and low tar — employed to soften the peril to smokers — will be prohibited.

A snapshot of the political complexity of regulating tobacco is found in the success of black lawmakers to exclude menthol-flavored cigarettes — popular with African-American constituents — from initial coverage in the law.

The Wall Street Journal estimated the tobacco industry had spent $308 million in recent years fighting against federal regulation. Public awareness of the stark dangers of smoking and tobacco products have been understood for decades. The Seattle Times decided in 1993 it would no longer accept tobacco advertising.

President Obama, a smoker struggling to quit, immediately pledged to sign the new law. Congress must be vigilant to ensure the legislation lives up to its potential. A segment of Big Tobacco believes there is room for endorsement of a safe product. Nonsense.

The first official warning in 1964 declared smoking is hazardous to your health. In 2009, smoking kills says it all.