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Editorial: Hagan and Burr craft wispy tobacco shield

North Carolina's senators agree that a little more tobacco regulation is better than too much. Their effort to protect a home-state industry, though, may be overpowered in Washington's strongly anti-tobacco environment.

Democrat Kay Hagan and Republican Richard Burr last week proposed legislation to create a Federal Tobacco Regulatory Agency with powers to put more restrictions on advertising and marketing. It's aimed to "prevent children from smoking," Hagan said.

The two senators touted their plan as a shield against tobacco regulation by the Food and Drug Administration, an initiative advanced by competing legislation.

Unfortunately, their shield might turn out to be as solid as smoke. It could be blown away by powerful members of Congress who favor FDA regulation of tobacco products. President Barack Obama does, too. As a senator, he supported a similar measure proposed by Sen. Ted Kennedy but opposed by then-President Bush. At best, the Hagan-Burr effort might lead to some modification of more drastic and costly action.

The North Carolina senators argue that the FDA is overly burdened by existing responsibilities and poorly suited to take on a complex new job. That may be true. But the real concern isn't that the FDA won't take on another assignment with sufficient vigor. The opposite possibility poses a greater threat. FDA regulation would allow the agency to reduce or eliminate cigarette ingredients deemed harmful, potentially stripping the product of qualities that make it appealing to smokers. That's a result health advocates would welcome, but North Carolina's economy, and Greensboro's, would pay a high price for plummeting cigarette sales.

Both proposals would charge tobacco companies for the cost of new regulation, but the Hagan-Burr price tag comes to far less -- no more than $100 million a year. FDA oversight would start at more than double that and escalate, further sapping industry profits. Again, tobacco critics would cheer. But it amounts to piling on, especially on the heels of congressional action raising the federal cigarette tax to $1 per pack to fund an expansion of a children's health program.

Hagan voted for that bill, Burr against. It's good to see them united this time, although likely in a losing cause. Already, a House panel has backed FDA regulation by a 39-13 vote. There's likely to be similar support in the full House and Senate.

Maybe Hagan and Burr can persuade colleagues to lighten the burden on a declining industry, for the sake of North Carolina jobs, but keeping the FDA out of tobacco's future is a hope bound to go up in smoke.