Up in Smoke: How the Tobacco Industry Shaped the New Smoking Bill

The White House has called the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act the “strongest measure protecting children from the dangers of smoking to date.” But not everyone agrees.

Several public health professionals have come out strongly against the new legislation. They argue that it was largely shaped by Philip Morris, now called Altria Group, the largest cigarette company in the country.

Dr. Joel Nitzkin is the Chair of the Tobacco Control Task Force of the American Association of Public Health Physicians. He has said that the bill only “provides the appearance of the federal regulation of tobacco products while assuring the Philip Morris company of the ability to continue to market their current and currently proposed cigarette products with little interference from federal authorities, protection against future liability and protection from competition from other tobacco companies and from smokeless tobacco products.”

Dr. Joel Nitzkin joins us now from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Dr. Joel Nitzkin, Chair of the Tobacco Control Task Force of the American Association of Public Health Physicians.