FDA mulls over cigarette ban.

Last month, federal health officials blasted the tobacco industry with both barrels.

On Feb. 24, Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders released a report on tobacco use among young people. It notes that more than 3 million adolescents in the United States now smoke cigarettes. The Surgeon General's report comes down hard on the subject of nicotine addiction, noting that many teens quickly become hooked on this substance and can't kick their smoking habit.

The very next day. the Food and Drug Administration accused tobacco companies of manipulating the amount of nicotine in cigarettes in order to keep smokers addicted. FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler is now considering classifying tobacco products as drugs, thus allowing the agency to regulate them under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

"Evidence brought to our attention is accumulating that suggests that cigarette manufacturers may intend that their products contain nicotine to satisfy an addiction on the part of some of their customers," says a Feb. 25 letter from Kessler to an antismoking coalition formed by the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and the American Cancer Society. The groups formed a coalition in 1982 to warn the public about the health dangers of smoking.

"The current evidence suggests that nicotine, when delivered by cigarettes, produces physiological dependence, resulting in withdrawal symptoms when smokers are deprived of nicotine," the letter states.

Although technology to remove nicotine from tobacco was developed years ago, cigarette manufacturers shun it, Kessler says. Instead, the companies control with precision the amount of nicotine in their products, ensuring that it is sufficient to maintain an addiction, his letter adds.

FDA's move could lead to a complete prohibition on nicotine-containing cigarettes. Alternatively. Congress could give FDA the authority to regulate the sale, labeling, and promotion of tobacco products. Legislation proposed by Rep. Mike Synar (D-Okla.) and Rep. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) would do just that.

Will cigarettes finally fall under greater government scrutiny? "It really depends on whether Congress has the political guts to take on the tobacco industry once and for all," says Scott D. Ballin, chairman of the coalition of health groups and vice president for public affairs of the American Heart Association. "We cannot continue to turn our backs on the issue of tobacco," he says.