The US Food and Drug Administration should be given the power to regulate tobacco products and cigarette taxes should be hiked as part of a government campaign to reduce smoking, an expert panel recommended on Thursday.
"These dangerous products are essentially unregulated," Richard Bonnie, a University of Virginia law professor and chairman of the 14-member Institute of Medicine panel, told reporters.
Congress and the president should give the FDA broad regulatory power over tobacco marketing, packaging and distribution, the panel's report said. The FDA should be able to limit the type and number of stores that can sell tobacco products and gradually cut the allowable nicotine content to reduce the addictive power of cigarettes, it added. The FDA regulates nearly a quarter of the US economy, including medicines, most foods and medical devices.