Durbin needs help in regulating tobacco

I would like to applaud Sen. Dick Durbin for efforts to keep kids from getting addicted to tobacco by supporting a new law to regulate tobacco products. But he can't do it alone. His fellow senators and representatives must make this a priority.

Even though tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, currently no government agency has the authority to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products. With no government regulation, the only thing tobacco companies care about is their profits.

A report recently released by leading public health organizations, "Big Tobacco's Guinea Pigs: How an Unregulated Industry Experiments on America's Kids and Consumers," shows the extent to which tobacco manufacturers take advantage of the lack of regulation over its industry to find novel ways, such as adding candy flavorings, to entice new users.

Right now Congress has an opportunity to stop the special protection of Big Tobacco, with bipartisan legislation granting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products.

Every year in Illinois, 17,000 mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children are lost to tobacco-caused disease. Most of them got hooked well before the age of 18.

Our U.S. Senators and Representatives have an obligation to protect kids and save lives. Members of Congress -- stop wasting time and lives. Pass FDA regulation of tobacco.

Kathleen L. Grady, PhD, APN, FAAN

Administrative Director Center for Heart Failure Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago