Why is FDA regulating cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products?
On June 22, 2009, Congress enacted the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, providing FDA with authority to regulate tobacco products. FDA is a science-based regulatory agency that has a mission to protect the public’s health. The Tobacco Control Act required FDA to issue these regulations, which it had previously issued in nearly identical form in 1996. FDA’s priorities in implementing the new law and these regulations are to: prevent youth from purchasing tobacco products; help adults who use tobacco to quit; provide accurate information to the public regarding the content of tobacco products and the effects the products have on the public health; and use the regulatory tools contained in the Tobacco Control Act, including tobacco product standards, to reduce the public health consequences of tobacco use in the United States.
