COURT DERAILS ANTI-SMOKING DRIVE

IN A stinging blow to President Clinton's campaign to curb youth
smoking, the US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Government does
not have the power to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug.

America's highest court ruled that the federal Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) overstepped its authority in 1996 when it sought
to crack down on cigarette sales to minors and issued sweeping
regulations governing the selling and marketing of tobacco. The
Clinton Administration hailed the FDA's 1996 actions as the most
important public health initiative for 50 years, but the Supreme Court
found that the federal agency had overreached itself.

"Congress has clearly precluded the FDA from asserting jurisdiction to
regulate tobacco products," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the
court. Four of the nine Supreme Court justices dissented from the ruling.

The verdict was a stunning victory for the tobacco industry, which has
already agreed to pay out $246 billion (UKP153 billion) to states to
reimburse the costs of treating tobacco-related illness. The industry
is also being sued by the Justice Department for repayment of health
insurance costs.

The court said that it was ruling only on whether the FDA had the
authority to regulate tobacco, not on smoking-related illness.

"An administrative agency's power to regulate in the public interest
must always be grounded in a valid grant of authority from Congress,"
it said.

Backed by President Clinton, the FDA in 1996 adopted a federal rule
banning sales of tobacco to anyone under 18, required photographic
identification from all tobacco-buyers under 27 and banned
cigarette-vending machines where children could gain access to them.
The FDA also sought to limit advertising and marketing by tobacco companies.

With approximately one million children and adolescents taking up the
habit every year, the new regulations became the centrepiece of Mr
Clinton's anti-smoking drive.The battle now shifts to the
Republican-controlled Congress, which could grant the FDA the
authority to regulate tobacco.