President Obama Signs Bill Giving FDA Unprecedented Control

Today, President Obama signed a bill recently passed by Congress that gives the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate what goes into tobacco products, to make public the ingredients and to prohibit marketing campaigns geared toward children. The government now runs the tobacco industry. Never mind that the President himself continues to be a smoker - an irony not lost on me. The President claimed that this new bill will keep kids away from starting the habit of smoking. As if ads, which do not run on television or cable, were the main reason kids pick up the habit.

Peer pressure is the main reason many kids start smoking and the power of nicotene addiction grabs them and holds them. But is it the governments job to keep kids from smoking? Is it the government's job to regulate the tobacco industry? When will the government start telling the alcohol industry how much alcohol they can have in their offerings? Or how much caffeine coffee and soda can contain?

This is all about power and control. Particularly, since the President pontificates about the bad habit of smoking while continuing to hold onto the habit himself. The President discussed the merits of the bill and the shortcomings of the tobacco industry. And yet, our government needs more people to take up the bad habit to fund their healthcare plans for children and adults through increased tobacco taxes. Talk about Schizophrenic!