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D.C. Dispatches by Cynthia Dizikes

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    Senate passes bill allowing FDA to regulate tobacco industry

    By Cynthia Dizikes | Published Thu, Jun 11 2009 3:46 pm

    WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar joined an overwhelming majority of the Senate today in passing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Act, which institutes unprecedented regulation over the tobacco industry.

    The bipartisan measure, approved by 79-17, would allow the Food and Drug Administration to ban the most harmful chemicals in tobacco products and reduce the amount of nicotine.  The legislation also requires the tobacco industry to disclose ingredients, expand the size of warning labels and include images of the health effects of tobacco.

    The bill is similar to a version that passed in the House last month and has the support of President Obama -- himself a smoker who has struggled to quit.

    The House, which passed its version 298-112, has indicated it will vote on the Senate version next week.

    At the time, Democratic Reps. Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison and Jim Oberstar voted for the bill, along with Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen. Republican Reps. John Kline and Michele Bachmann voted against the measure, along with Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson.

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    Illustration by Hugh Bennewitz

    minnpost.com/cynthiadizikes


    Cynthia Dizikes is MinnPost's Washington, D.C., correspondent and covers Minnesota's congressional delegation and reports on developments out of Washington that are important to Minnesota readers. She received her master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and has worked as an intern in the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau, reporting on a variety of topics, and as a reporter for the Anniston Star in Alabama. Her work has also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune, Congress Daily and on National Public Radio. She can be reached at cdizikes [at] minnpost [dot] com.

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