TaxFreeCigarettes

The federal government regulates most every product you can name, from infant car seats and prescription drugs to spinach, meat, pet food and breakfast cereal. But buy cigarettes — so deadly they kill 400,000 Americans each year — get a pass. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no authority to regulate them. And Big Tobacco has used its lobbying savvy and campaign contributions to turn back every effort to change that. Now Congress has another chance, one it shouldn’t squander, particularly as the industry is gearing up to deploy a new generation of tobacco products to appeal to a new generation of consumers. Last month, Philip Morris launched Marlboro Snus (rhymes with noose) in Dallas, and R.J. Reynolds added Dallas to a list of seven cities where its Camel Snus was already available. Both are a Swedish type of smokeless tobacco that doesn’t require users to spit out the residue. The industry sees snus as a way to boost sales in the face of laws against smoking in offices, restaurants and bars.