FDA regulatory control tobacco bill is voted forward..

March 13, 2008 - FDA regulatory control tobacco bill is voted forward.. A U.S. House panel passed a sweeping tobacco-regulation bill (Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Act) on March 11, 2008 that has divided the country’s biggest tobacco companies over the potential for new government control. After blocking repeated Republican attempts to delay the legislation, the Democrat-controlled health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 18-9 to pass a bill to give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory control over tobacco products. A similar bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., awaits a vote in the Senate. Aides said that there is no timeline for the bill to be heard on the Senate floor or before the full House Energy and Commerce Committee, though Democratic leaders in both chambers have called the issue a high priority. (On February 15, 2007, Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) and Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) . and Tom Davis (R-VA) introduced legislation to grant the FDA broad authority to regulate tobacco products.) See related news briefs: December 7, 2007, October 5, 2007 and August 2, 2007. (TobaccoWatch.org)