Wednesday was a very important day, or one could even call it a historic day, for the tobacco industry: a law, giving the US Food and Drug Administration authority over regulating cigarettes and any other type of tobacco products, cleared the US House of Representatives.

A statement from the White House was released, it expressed "serious concerns" with regard to the new bill, which obviously enough, has a lot of supporters. The most active ones are the public health groups and several Democrats; they say such a measure would surely help bring down youth smoking and would lower the population’s risk to heart disease and many other terrible conditions.

According to Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat currently chairing the House Energy and Commerce Committee, by enforcing this legislation, every tobacco related aspect, ranging from advertising to commerce, would receive new, very strict limits.

The White House managed to catch the downsize the Administration would experience, namely the huge "burden" the FDA would have to handle, as its responsibilities would be significantly increased. 

The bill, which managed to clear the House with a surprising 326-102 vote, would enable the FDA to manage cigarette labeling and recall any tobacco products it may consider as excessively harmful. Besides this, the institution would also have to approve any new tobacco product getting ready to hit the market. However, the FDA would not be given the authority to ban cigarettes, require tobacco companies not to include nicotine in their products or any other action of this sort.

A similar bill was passed back in 2004 by the Senate; however, it never got past the House.