Regulating the Advertising and Promotion of Tobacco Products: Where Are We Now?

Christopher T. Fulmer

ABSTRACT

Prior to 1995, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not attempt to assert any regulatory control over tobacco products, nor did Congress promulgate any legislation affording FDA regulatory authority over tobacco products. However, in the mid-1990s, the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention performed studies that reflected an escalating use of tobacco products amongst adolescents and young people and indicated that approximately one out of every three young people using tobacco products would likely die prematurely as a result. These studies sparked a shift in FDA’s regulatory position towards tobacco products, prompting an integrated and evolving regulatory system for their advertising and promotion which has helped to drastically reduce tobacco usage and dependency among all age groups, including adolescents and young people.