In a letter addressed to Joe L Barton of Texas, Health and Human Services Sec. Michael Leavitt said the White House will strongly oppose legislation giving the US Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products and to reduce the harm from smoking.

Barton is the highest-ranking Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which approved the bill in April. The bill is highly supported in both US chambers. However, the letter is the strongest signs that if the bill passes both House and Senate, the Bush administration is most likely to veto it.

“The administration would strongly oppose this legislation,” Leavitt said, according to the Associated Press.

He also added that giving a public health agency like the FDA jurisdiction over tobacco products would send the wrong message.

“Adding tobacco to FDA’s regulatory responsibilities could also leave the public with the misperception that tobacco products are safe, or at least safer, with the FDA regulating them.”

How the bill will treat menthol cigarettes, is another issue addressed in the letter. If approved, the bill would ban candy, fruit, and spiced-flavored cigarettes, including clove cigarettes, but will exempt menthol cigarettes from the ban, which is considered a threat to the US population.

Previous studies have shown that that 81 percent of teen African-American smokers use menthol cigarettes compared to the 32 percent of white teens and 45 percent of Hispanics.

Moreover, another study released last week by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health, concluded that there is a deliberate strategy to “recruit and addict young smokers,” by adjusting menthol levels in cigarettes.

The fresh taste of menthol manages, to a certain degree, to cover up the original cigarette smell and also ease the smoke inhalation, leaving the false impression that it might not be as unhealthy as the rest.

However, the level of nicotine remains the same, creating addiction among those trying to smoke, the study published in the American Journal of Public Health said. It is already known that those smoking menthol cigarettes find it more difficult to quit than those smoking normal cigarettes.

Menthol cigarettes currently make up about 28 percent of the $70 billion cigarette industry in America.