Michael DeBow

Michael DeBow contends in the following viewpoint that Congress should not grant the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products because to do so would give the federal government power not granted to it by the Constitution and further expand the nanny state. DeBow insists that regulation of tobacco is a function that states perform more effectively than the federal government. Further, if the FDA is allowed to regulate tobacco, it will not stop with measures aimed at reducing children’s access to tobacco products but will ultimately seek to control tobacco use by adults as well. Michael DeBow is a professor of law at Sam- ford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

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1. When did the FDA announce its intention to...