Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
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FDA v. BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP.

Breyer, J., dissenting

behaviour, providing the motivation for and the degree
Id., at 44936
of satisfaction required by the smoker.’ ”
(Brown & Williamson).

With such evidence, the FDA has more than sufﬁciently
established that the companies “intend” their products to
“affect” the body within the meaning of the FDCA.

C

The majority nonetheless reaches the “inescapable conclu-
sion” that the language and structure of the FDCA as a
whole “simply do not ﬁt” the kind of public health problem
that tobacco creates. Ante, at 143. That is because, in the
majority’s view, the FDCA requires the FDA to ban outright
“dangerous” drugs or devices (such as cigarettes); yet, the
FDA concedes that an immediate and total cigarette-sale ban
is inappropriate.

Ibid.

This argument is curious because it leads with similarly
“inescapable” force to precisely the opposite conclusion,
namely, that the FDA does have jurisdiction but that it must
ban cigarettes. More importantly, the argument fails to
take into account the fact that a statute interpreted as re-
quiring the FDA to pick a more dangerous over a less dan-
gerous remedy would be a perverse statute, causing, rather
than preventing, unnecessary harm whenever a total ban is
likely the more dangerous response. And one can at least
imagine such circumstances.

Suppose, for example, that a commonly used, mildly addic-
tive sleeping pill (or, say, a kind of popular contact lens),
plainly within the FDA’s jurisdiction, turned out to pose seri-
ous health risks for certain consumers. Suppose further
that many of those addicted consumers would ignore an im-
mediate total ban, turning to a potentially more dangerous
black-market substitute, while a less draconian remedy (say,
adequate notice) would wean them gradually away to a safer
product. Would the FDCA still force the FDA to impose