clipped from: www.nytimes.com
Senate Approves Tight Regulation Over Cigarettes
WASHINGTON — More than four decades after the surgeon general declared smoking a health hazard, the Senate on Thursday cleared the final hurdle to empowering federal officials to regulate cigarettes and other forms of tobacco for the first time.
This is a historic step changing the nature of tobacco in society forever, said Clifford E. Douglas, the director of the University of Michigan Tobacco Research Network, which has extensively studied the health effects of smoking and was one of many groups that have long pushed for tobacco regulation.