The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Officials at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center expressed disappointment in the Supreme Court decision against the Federal Drug Administration regulating tobacco as a drug.
Lung cancer is the single most preventable disease.
Nicotine has been compared with cocaine and heroin in its capacity to addict, said Dr. Paul M. Cinciripini, director of M. D. Anderson's Tobacco Research and Treatment Program. This was a historic opportunity to regulate an industry in the interest of public health and to permanently change tobacco use and marketing in this country. That chance has been missed. The addictive properties of nicotine are well known in the scientific community. A chance to regulate nicotine content in cigarettes, other tobacco products and new nicotine delivery devices could have impacted adolescent smoking initiation and adult smoking cessation.