You are Loosing your Rights.

[WarlordZeroOne]

[offsite:26o7ijmj]WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday backed a historic plan giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sweeping power over cigarettes and other tobacco products, allowing the agency to curb advertisements, require stronger package warnings and inspect manufacturers.

Supporters, backed by hundreds of health advocacy groups, cheered the bill's passage as a way to rein in cigarette makers and reduce smoking, especially among teenagers and children.

"The tobacco companies' days of peddling one of the most deadly products in the world have finally come to an end," Democratic Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin said. "Now, we've given the FDA the tools necessary to protect millions of children and families from deadly tobacco-related diseases."

Under the measure, which passed in a bipartisan 79-17 vote, the FDA would also collect millions of dollars in fees from cigarette makers, which must register with the agency and provide a list all the products they make.

A similar measure has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier on Thursday she wanted to look closely at the Senate's bill. "But from what I have seen so far, I believe it will be possible for us to accept their bill and send it right on to the president," she said.

President Barack Obama, who has discussed his own struggles to quit smoking, said he will sign the bill into law, saying "it will make history by giving the scientists and medical experts at the FDA the power to take sensible steps that will reduce tobacco's harmful effects and prevent tobacco companies from marketing their products to children."[/offsite:26o7ijmj] :bom:

[boycotteverything]

welcome to the nanny state

[mojo]

thats the public spin, in reality governments are afraid of the consequences of "banning" smoking completely, billions of dollars in tax revenue and "donations" will disappear into the void like smoke on the water.

:)

[Royal]

They made us stupid so they can police us.

[Ima Nasshole]

The tobacco companies ought to open late term abortion clinics, offsetting revenue stream.

[WarlordZeroOne]

Sorry Mojo its already happened here in the UK,you cannot smoke in a public places i.e.in so called Pubs and clubs or at work, or in the place of work, inside buildings of your employment,you can smoke outside the building of your employment,also what you have said is the same thing i also said about government revenue,i was wrong they fucking did it,and when you do go out for a smoke people look at you as if you are an alien,not nice or funny.Big Brother,Nanny State its all happening,one final note it will not be long in coming,next 3 years you will have a chip (just like the credit card) on your car,van,truck,they will know where you are,or the vehicle 24 hours a day,they are already gearing up for that here in the UK,and they put it all down to security,after the 9-11 Disaster.Our LIBERTY IS FUCKING GONE.

[pack3tg0st]

Fuck em...

Whats next... coffee? How long till we discover coffee causes cancer?

I reserve the right to slowly poison myself in whatever manner I see fit... Alcohol or Tobacco...

they can piss up a rope...

Cigs will never cost more than pot... the government wouldn't allow it...

[boycotteverything]

When I was living in Massachusetts there was a state senator who introduced a bill to ban butter in restaurants. Bad for your health, said she. hahahaha

[Cheezit]

full article
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090612/us_time/08599190425000

"will effectively lock in its market dominance" and " join them in finding the holy grail: the safe cigarette"

...interesting...


Smoke Signals: Why a Tobacco Giant Is Backing a Tough New Antismoking Bill

By KATE PICKERT / WASHINGTON Kate Pickert / Washington – 2 hrs 5 mins ago
The U.S. Senate on Thursday struck the most devastating legislative blow in history to Big Tobacco, giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over the industry. The new bill, which passed in the House in April, includes tough new restrictions on advertising like allowing only black-and-white text ads in magazines with substantial youth readerships, mandates that manufacturers prove or stop using claims like "light" and "low tar," bans flavored cigarettes (except menthol) and makes provisions for large, graphic warning labels. So why, then, is tobacco giant Philip Morris, unlike its industry brethren, celebrating the unprecedented oversight?


When Senator John McCain introduced FDA regulatory legislation in 1998, the company spent a reported $100 million successfully fighting it. But since then, Philip Morris has had a crucial realization. With 50% of the U.S. tobacco market already safely in the company's pocket - and more than 50% of 18- to 25-year-old smokers loyal to its top brand, Marlboro - restrictive legislation will effectively lock in its market dominance, preventing any competitors from taking a bite out of Philip Morris' very lucrative business. (See vintage cigarette propaganda.)


The company's main rival, R.J. Reynolds, manufacturer of Camel cigarettes, is still in dismay over Philip Morris' reversal from regulation opponent to champion, and the third largest cigarette manufacturer, Lorillard, has labeled the legislation the Marlboro Monopoly Act. Both argue that as the new restrictions cut off most remaining avenues available for advertising and ban marketing stunts like free-sample cigarette giveaways, the companies' ability to "communicate" (i.e., gain market share) with potential and existing smokers about their products will be blocked. In addition, the administrative costs of complying with FDA regulations favor large manufacturers over smaller ones.


But there's another key reason Philip Morris lobbied hard for FDA regulation, aligning itself with strange bedfellows like the Campaign for Smoke-Free Kids, the American Lung Association and longtime antismoking crusaders Senator Ted Kennedy and Representative Henry Waxman. "Philip Morris wants the public-health community to join them in finding the holy grail: the safe cigarette," says Gregory Connolly, a tobacco expert and professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. Simply put, figuring out how to produce a less harmful tobacco product and getting an FDA seal of approval could open up a whole new, potentially huge consumer market.

[WarlordZeroOne]

That senator needed screwing, then firing,paying so called RESPONSIBLE people.Everything is bad for your health if you OD on it,everything in moderation.

[mojo]

[offsite:37bu5gw1]Simply put, figuring out how to produce a less harmful tobacco product and getting an FDA seal of approval could open up a whole new, potentially huge consumer market.[/offsite:37bu5gw1]

haha.


@warlord...sure they are doing the same here banning smoking in pubs and work places......so all our pubs have built beer gardens which are fuller than the front bars.
the government wins both ways, it appears to the do gooders that they are stopping smokers meanwhile the tax revenue keeps flowing in.
they know that smokers won't quit just because they cant smoke in the front bar, not when the pubs give them an outdoor area to smoke.
personally i like the pub being smoke free, if i want one i walk 10 feet out the door into the beer garden and light up.

[Cheezit]

until a new law shows up...

No Smoking
in Gardens

but i see your point...play both sides

[torbjon]

It has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake. ~Mark Twain

The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide. ~Kurt Vonnegut

A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke. ~Rudyard Kipling

[boycotteverything]

"How can a nation call itself great when its bread tastes like Kleenex?" Julia Child

[boycotteverything]

besides- only idiots smoke...

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/personas-einstein.jpghttp://xad.xanga.com/1d3d220016731112444582/z80192068.jpghttp://www.discountcheapcigarettes.com/famous_gallery/roosevelt.jpghttp://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd40/hibits/Onthehunt.jpg?t=1244827590

[WarlordZeroOne]

Looking at the 2nd photo from the left,He can't imagine anything.