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Drug Pushers

Newsday Editorial

Tobacco products should be regulated

Lying is as natural to tobacco executives as breathing once was to their customers. Now, a blockbuster report from Massachusetts shows how they have been jacking up the nicotine content of their lethal product, to keep people smoking. That comes on the heels of a devastating federal court decision that labels the tobacco companies for what they always have been: shamelessly dishonest racketeers.

In an almost 1,700-page ruling, in a civil suit brought by the government under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Judge Gladys Kessler had a tough time finding enough synonyms for deceit. But she got her message across eloquently. Sadly, citing a federal appeals court decision that limits RICO penalties, she failed to hit them with the crushing financial punishment they deserve.

The Massachusetts report flows from its law requiring companies to test nicotine regularly and realistically. It shows an average 10 percent increase in nicotine from 1998 to 2004, a period when the tobacco industry has piously pretended to offer help to those who want to quit. There's only one cure for this scourge: Federal law must give the FDA power to regulate this addictive, deadly drug.

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.