Where there’s smoke, there’s ire
Speakers at an all-day conference at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) hailed a two-year-old federal law giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) power to regulate cigarettes as a key opportunity to further reduce smoking’s impact on people’s health. The conference on Wednesday (June 22) included a memorial tribute to the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who waged a long fight to get the FDA legislation passed. The tribute also noted the roles of other members of the Kennedy family, including President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who also championed the fight against the tobacco industry. Joseph Kennedy III, grandson of Robert Kennedy, spoke at the conference, thanking attendees both for honoring his family’s contributions and for their own vigorous activism that over the years has led to major victories in the fight against smoking. Though overall rates of smoking have declined...