In an historic 79 to 17 vote, the US Senate has approved legislation that would allow government oversight of the tobacco industry. A similar bill was passed by the US Congress last month.

The legislation will allow the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the content, marketing and sale of tobacco products in order to protect public health. Tobacco companies will now be required to list all product ingredients on packaging and will be required to seek FDA approval for new products. Companies will also no longer be able to add flavoring to tobacco products and will no longer be able to refer to products as being “light”, “low” or “mild”.

The bill was sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy who had long pushed for such legislation. Although Kennedy was not in Senate for its passage, a statement from him was read into the congressional record. In it Kennedy said, “Miracles still happen. The United States Senate has finally said 'no' to Big Tobacco”.

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