The article “The FDA Should Have the Authority to Regulate Tobacco Products” provides the arguments that support the idea of tighter control of the tobacco industry. According to the text, the tobacco industry misleads the customers and often targets the children. Therefore, the FDA should have the authority over the tobacco industry.
Nevertheless, the FDA will not be able to make “the tragic toll of tobacco use disappear overnight” (Kennedy, 2007).
Approximately 40 million people are addicted to smoking in the USA, and the FDA can influence the change.
The FDA will focus on regulating sales, distribution and advertising of tobacco products. Nowadays, the tobacco industry spends approximately 14 billion dollars a year to advertise cigarettes. As the result 4,000 children try their first cigarette every day.
Another way to protect children from getting into “dependency on the deadly product” is to prohibit self-service displays and vending machines that make the sales of cigarettes easy (Kennedy, 2007).
Finally, the FDA may require providing better warnings about the harm of smoking. What is more, the FDA will help smokers to overcome their addiction and control the number of dangerous ingredients in cigarettes.
So the FDA’s main role will be to identify and stop the deceptive practices of the tobacco companies.
Critique
The article “The FDA Should Have the Authority to Regulate Tobacco Products” is about the need of better regulation of the tobacco industry by means of the Food and Drugs Administration. The writer’s opinion is very reasonable, however there are not enough arguments to convince the readers that this opinion would the most right one in solving the problem of smoking.
The text is based on the remarks made by Senator Kennedy, who has been one of the oldest politicians in the Congress. He has playing an active role in fighting the tobacco companies.
The positive side of this article is that it provides many facts about smoking and the manipulations of the tobacco companies in the USA. However, not all figures and facts have references. The author could have used the figures from Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids that specialize in organizing the anti-smoking campaigns. For instance, the report Tobacco Harm to Kids (2015) has many reliable figures.
Despite insufficient supporting arguments, the author's idea to focus on the children helps to understand why the new regulations against the tobacco companies are so much needed. However, the author did not explain how the FDA will function and if the FDA is better than the other alternatives.
In conclusion, the article is convincing. However, after having read the text, one needs to analyse how exactly the FDA will control the tobacco companies. This article helps to answer the research question of controlling the tobacco companies only to a certain degree, because it focuses too much on the negative impact of cigarettes instead of the FDA. Therefore for better understanding the activity of the FDA and similar governmental initiatives needs to be assessed.
References
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (2015). Tobacco Harm to Kids. Retrieved from
https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0077.pdf
Susan C. Hunnicutt, Ed. (2009). The Food and Drug Administration Should Have the
Authority to Regulate Tobacco Products by Edward M. Kennedy (July 25, 2007).
Tobacco and Smoking. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press.
