The new law would allow the FDA to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block labels such “low tar” and “light.“ Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.

After years of wrangling, tobacco is officially becoming an FDA-regulated industry. All in all, we believe the Food and Drug Administration’s new oversight will probably prove to be the year’s least injurious intrusion of federal power into private affairs. Cigarettes, after all, rank already among the most highly taxed and regulated products in the country. The new FDA role should remove some uncertainty from the business and could facilitate more honest communications about the relative risks of various types of tobacco products. It might even create modest public health benefits by opening the door for less dangerous ways to partake of the golden leaf—and by amplifying the well-known risks associated with all tobacco consumption. (Sunday’s Commentary section will feature columns from two tobacco companies with strong local ties—and different perspectives on the regulation bill.)

On April 2, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation granting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over tobacco products. In Virginia, nearly 9,300 children a year become regular smokers. In our state alone, we spend more than $2 billion on health care costs directly caused by smoking, and 9,700 people die from tobacco each year—the leading cause of preventable death.