By SEAN MUSSENDEN
Media General News Service

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama’s picks to fill the top two positions at the Food and Drug Administration have repeatedly bucked tobacco companies and pushed for greater restrictions on cigarette marketing, second-hand smoke and sales to minors.

Though the FDA does not currently regulate tobacco products, Congress is moving ahead on long-stalled legislation to give the agency oversight of cigarette companies.

That could give Obama’s choice to lead the agency, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, and her top deputy, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, great sway over the industry.

As New York City’s heath commissioner in the 1990s, Hamburg fought for a total ban on indoor smoking in public places long before states and cities began adopting such aggressive restrictions.

And as health commissioner in Baltimore, Sharfstein pushed through an indoor smoking ban in the city that paved the way for a similar statewide ban.

Neither Hamburg nor Sharfstein have publicly signaled their intentions regarding tobacco oversight since being tapped for the posts.

Hamburg couldn’t be reached for comment and Sharfstein declined to comment through a spokesperson at the Baltimore health department. 

 Obama reiterated this month that he supports giving the FDA oversight of tobacco.

And on Wednesday, a key House committee approved a bill sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman, R-Calif., that would do just that. The full House is expected to give its approval soon.

In the Senate, where the measure failed to pass last year, supporters of the FDA plan believe they have the votes to pass it in that chamber this year.  But Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., have proposed an alternate plan to create a new federal agency to regulate tobacco that could again stall the FDA proposal.

Because the Waxman legislation would give agency officials flexibility to develop new cigarette warning label standards and marketing restrictions, anti-tobacco groups said it was important for Obama to have nominated people who have worked to reduce smoking rates.             

“The buzz has all been very positive,” Kathleen Dachille, director of the Center for Tobacco Regulation at the University of Maryland Law School, said of Hamburg and Sharfstein.

Dachille worked closely with Sharfstein to enact stricter smoking regulations after he was tapped to lead the city department in 2005. 

He was the leading advocate to ban smoking in all workplaces in Baltimore – restaurants and bars included – and fought hard for a similar statewide ban.  

The proposal stalled at the state level because of resistance from tobacco companies and the restaurant lobby. After Baltimore passed its own ban in 2007, opposition to a statewide ban dwindled.     

“Baltimore was a major tipping point, and he was able to accomplish that.  It was the key jurisdiction that opened the door to statewide legislation,” Dachille said.

Last year, Sharfstein also pushed to ban sales of single small cigars – brands like Black and Mild and Swisher Sweets – after a health department investigation found the inexpensive smokes were popular with inner city minors. 

While some young people couldn’t afford to buy a pack of cigarettes for $5, the investigation found they could easily scrape together enough change to buy a single small cigar that sold for less than $1.     

When the state legislature did not pass a restriction that would have required Maryland retailers to sell the cigars in packs of five or larger, Sharfstein issued his own five per pack minimum requirement in Baltimore, which became the first city to do so. 

The measure was opposed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Philip Morris and other tobacco companies, who threatened to fight the new restriction in court.

Before joining the Baltimore health department, Sharfstein worked on tobacco policy issues including FDA regulation as an investigator for Waxman, then the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

In 2003, he helped write an investigative report that concluded that Philip Morris continued to lie about control of nicotine levels in its cigarettes and that R.J. Reynolds was not being truthful about marketing to minors.  

As New York City health commissioner in the early 1990s, Hamburg fought successfully to ban cigarette advertisements on city subways. 

In the mid-1990s, New York banned smoking in most restaurants.  At the time, few states and cities had taken that step, but Hamburg wanted the city to go even further. 

At the time, she backed a total indoor workplace smoking ban, something the state and city did not enact until 2003.

“In many respects, she was ahead of her times,” said Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an anti-tobacco group.   “She has a demonstrated track record of working to reduce tobacco use that will hold her in good stead if Congress grants the FDA jurisdiction.”

A spokeswoman for R.J. Reynolds declined to comment on how Hamburg’s views on smoking could affect the company.

“The real issue is whether the Food and Drug Administration is going to be able to appropriately regulate tobacco, given that it is by all appearances too overburden to meet its current obligations monitoring food and drugs,” said spokeswoman Maura Payne.

Sean Mussenden can be reached at smussenden@mediageneral.com or 202-662-7668.