The agency also wanted photo identification cards for tobacco buyers aged under 27, and to limit vending machine to areas where only adults would go. The court decided that these were matters for Congress. The agency has amply demonstrated that tobacco use, particularly among children and adolescents, poses perhaps the single most significant threat to public health in the United States. Law suits Writing for the four dissenting judges, Justice Stephen Breyer said the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act allows the agency to regulate tobacco. Far more than most, this particular drug and device risks the life-threatening harms that administrative regulation seeks to rectify.
Correspondents say the ruling is a victory for the tobacco industry and a defeat for the agency.
The tobacco industry has been under increasing pressure in recent years, hit with a number of civil lawsuits seeking huge damages for smoking-related illnesses. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Links to other Americas stories are at the foot of the page.