Congress finally attacks USA's Number 1 killer

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2008

In 1987, a small band of lawmakers tried to push a measure in Congress to regulate tobacco. The bill went nowhere. Now, 21 years later, 45 million Americans are smoking, smoking-related illnesses kill 400,000 a year and lawmakers are still trying to reduce the carnage.

On Wednesday, they took a huge step forward when the House, by a vote of 326 to 102, passed a strong measure to give the Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco.

If the vote comes 21 years late, it is nonetheless timely.

A dramatic, nearly decade-long decline in teen smoking is leveling off, and many states are failing to use the potent tools available to curtail teen smoking.

The industry, meanwhile is on the verge of introducing a new generation of supposedly...