To deal with the deluge of tobacco-related mail, as many as 40 workers at a time sifted through boxes of letters. Temporary workers were hired to work second shifts. A new computer system scanned more than 93,000 individually written letters, logging every word into the agency's electronic library. That enabled staffers screening the mail to search for specific topics electronically. Before any Washington agency can issue regulations, it must publish them in a huge compendium called the Federal Register and give the public a certain amount of time to comment.
Public responses can shape the final version of agency rules.
The first draft of the FDA's tobacco rules included a ban on mail-order sales of cigarettes. But after receiving lots of letters from people in rural areas who said they lived too far out to get to a supermarket, the FDA removed the mail-order ban from its final set of rules published Aug. 9, Berbakos said. The battle began in August 1995 when President Clinton authorized the agency to regulate cigarettes in an effort to curb teen smoking. Tobacco companies have filed suit against the FDA, claiming it has overstepped its power. The case, which went before U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen Sr. in Greensboro, N.C., on Feb. 10, is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.