Not a good week for Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan. As you well know, Burr caught national heat for revealing his ATM run, while Hagan speaks out against Time Warner’s metered-usage plan after TW announces it’s pulling back on the plan.
But both senators got a little support from a strange place this weekend. For starters, I had to read Dr. Brad Rodu’s op-ed in yesterday’s N&R a couple of times to make sure I understood what he was saying, which is that smokless tobacco is a safer alternative to cigarettes, citing numbers that state “health risks from smokeless are only about 1 to 2 percent of those of smoking.” Rodu says smokeless tobacco serves as the nicotine delivery system that can help smokers quit the habit, saving millions of lives.
With that as a backdrop, Rodu endorses the Burr-Hagan alternative to FDA regulation of tobacco:
The Senate bill, co-sponsored by Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan, has been attacked by anti-tobacco extremists as protective legislation for North Carolina-based RJ Reynolds. This is not only an insult to Burr and Hagan, it is a sad disservice to Carolina smokers. The Burr-Hagan legislation would require federal authorities to establish a comparative ranking of the health risks of different tobacco products. This would provide smokers with valuable information about safer smokeless alternatives.
Rodu’s argument runs counter to tobacco opponents’ argument that all forms of tobacco are dangerous. It will be interesting to see the reaction it sparks.
