Another nanny-state effort from the Biden administration is in the works, and it would compel tobacco firms to cap the quantity of nicotine in cigarettes. This will not only provide doubtful health advantages (and I have a suspicion that it will backfire), but it also marks yet another instance of the Executive Branch gaining too much power, which is not at all what the Founders in their infinite wisdom intended.
The news report is straightforward:
The White House Budget Office announced Tuesday that the Biden administration intends to propose a rule to set a maximum nicotine level in cigarettes and other finished tobacco products in an effort to make them less addictive.
According to a paper provided by the Budget Office, the rule, which is anticipated to take effect in May 2023, would be created with the aim of making it simpler for tobacco users to quit and aiding in the prevention of youngsters becoming habitual smokers.
The request is made as the Biden administration intensifies its efforts to combat cancer-related fatalities.
In a statement on Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the plan was to ‘to reduce youth use, addiction and death.’
This comes after the FDA proposed banning flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes, which are popular among Black people. (I’m unsure of the smoker of those cigars.)
My suspicion is that the plan to decrease nicotine may be counterproductive. While activist White leftists may not believe it, there are people to don’t wish to stop smoking. If each cigarette has less nicotine, they’ll simply smoke more cigarettes to get the same rush. And while nicotine may be the addictive part of cigarettes, it’s all the other stuff in the cigarettes that’s harmful to health. If my cynical suspicions are accurate, smoking more cigarettes to get more nicotine will mean more health problems, not fewer.
But there’s something else that really irks me about this. I should note before going farther that I don’t have a dog in this fight. I’ve never smoked a cigarette and can’t stand the smell of either cigarettes or cigars. If the whole panoply of tobacco products suddenly disappeared from the earth, I would be happy.
I disagree with the Executive Branch having this much authority, though. No president should have the authority to determine how a product is produced and distributed. Through the Commerce Clause, Congress should have power over this.
In a similar vein, the flow of fossil fuels into America shouldn’t be subject to so significant Executive Branch influence. Fossil fuels are essential to our way of life. Fossil fuels are necessary for everything we buy, use, consume, wear, and do. If fossil fuels are eliminated, there will be no modern health care, modern education, travel, or anything else at all. Our immediate return to a gloomy, little planet that cannot be salvaged by expensive, finite wind and solar power sources will be devastating (both of which are dependent upon fossil fuels for their manufacturing).
However, since his first day in the White House, Biden has put his signature on a few documents that have put a stop to the use of fossil fuel in this nation.
He put a stop to drilling and development on federal lands as well as the quick, cheap, and ecologically beneficial Keystone Pipeline (which was funding filthy trains and trucks).
Every effort has been made by his government to deny Americans access to the energy that powers this nation.
That kind of authority, which has a significant impact on business and should be subject to congressional debate and vote, was never intended by the Founders to reside in the Executive Branch. The president’s responsibility is to uphold existing laws (such as those governing immigration and maintaining a capable military), not to snuff out the spirit that keeps America moving.
Biden shouldn’t be allowed to kill the tobacco industry since doing so would deprive millions of people of a pleasurable activity and possibly introduce a new health danger.
Otherwise, our nation runs the risk of descending into totalitarianism.
The dictator’s new army won’t have the emotional fortitude to rival the Wehrmacht or People’s Liberation Army, complete with transgender soldiers preoccupied with pronouns, “green” ships, and officers interested in Critical Race Theory.
By Andrea Widburg for The American Thinker, rephrased by InfoArmed