Currently there is no federal authority to regulate tobacco. The report also concludes that manufacturers should be required to identify and disclose the toxic components of cigarettes designed to be safer so their possible link to disease can be assessed. We believe it may be possible to reduce harm from tobacco use with new products, but we frankly do not know the health effects of the various products on the market today that claim to do this. Many still incorporate tobacco and, because no tobacco product is safe, the effects of these new products must be carefully studied to make a reliable judgment as to whether they actually reduce risk and harm. The IOM report is in response to a 1999 request by the Food and Drug Administration to examine the scientific and public health implications of potentially less harmful tobacco products.
Tobacco companies are test-marketing many cigarettes that burn less and emit fewer toxins.
Some of the new cigarettes claim to reduce health risks, but the report concluded that there was no evidence to support that position. The FDA claimed authority to regulate tobacco in 1994, arguing that cigarettes were a medical device that delivered the drug nicotine. The Supreme Court struck down the FDA's claim last year in a 5-4 vote. Cigarette smoking by adults dropped sharply after the Surgeon-General linked tobacco to lung cancer and other fatal diseases, but has levelled off in the past decade. About 47 million Americans, a quarter of adults, still smoke.