Group Pushes Hill To Endorse Tobacco Regulation

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(JEFFERSONVILLE) - Smoking opponents are pressing Ninth District Congressman Baron Hill to endorse a bill that would let the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco products.

Hill sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is expected to take up the bill in September. He also represents a Southeast Indiana district which is home to tobacco farmers who oppose the legislation.

Former State Health Commissioner Richard Feldman says farmers' worries are misplaced. He argues the FDA would be regulating cigarette manufacturers, not farmers, just as it regulates corn flakes but not corn farmers.

Feldman joined Clark Memorial Hospital CEO Martin Padgett and the Rev. Daniel Gangler with the Hoosier Faith and Health Coalition for a Jeffersonville news conference to try to turn up the heat on Hill.

Gangler says FDA regulation at a minimum would require full disclosure of all ingredients in cigarettes. He notes the revelation of memos indicating tobacco companies added extra nicotine to cigarettes.

Supporters of the bill say the FDA could go further, demanding more prominent warning labels or banning some chemicals from being included.

Indiana senators Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh are among the sponsors of a Senate version of the bill.

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