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FDA Regulation
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Published: November 29, 2008
Updated: 11/29/2008 02:30 am
Tobacco use kills more than 11,000 people in North Carolina each year, yet tobacco is one of the least regulated products on the market. Tobacco products are exempt from basic requirements with which even pet food manufacturers must comply.
Tobacco regulation by the FDA would be funded by the tobacco industry. There would be no impact on the funding or burden of work associated with the FDA's other important activities.
The FDA wants $300 million per year to conduct tobacco oversight. The tobacco industry spends less than $300 million in eight days -- and $13 billion each year -- on marketing alone. Considering the $96 billion toll tobacco exerts on taxpayers each year in health care and other costs, $300 million is a reasonable sum.
But the real issue is public health. It is absurd that such a dangerous product is virtually unregulated. With the authority to regulate tobacco products, the FDA could crack down on tobacco marketing and sales to kids, require the disclosure of the contents of tobacco products and demand the removal of dangerous chemicals like arsenic and formaldehyde.
Let's end special protection for the tobacco industry and grant the FDA the authority to act in the public interest.
DR. DAVID C. GOFF JR.
Winston-Salem
Disappointed
Like many other concerned citizens, I followed the recent election closely, on the state and national level. And, like many others, I was disappointed. But my disappointment lies not with those who were elected -- it lies with those who granted them their power, the voting Americans.
I'm only 16 and can't vote myself, but I must say that I strongly disagree with straight-ticket voting. Do voters not realize that even if they love everything about their chosen party, not all of their party's candidates are necessarily the best choice and don't even necessarily follow their party's supposed political dogma?
This was an election that, at the presidential level, promised either "change" or a "maverick," meaning both sides were, to use a tired cliché, "reaching across the aisle." What sickens me most is the voter who chooses a name he's never heard of, simply because of the "D" or "R" next to it.
In the classroom, I'm consistently told to do my homework so that I can make informed contributions. It's time we as citizens started doing the same for our country.
DYLAN WHITE
Pfafftown
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