The New York Times | April 19, 2019
Senator McConnell’s bill is a question mark for many tobacco industry watchers. Eric Lindblom, a former F.D.A. tobacco official who is now at the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown Law, wondered how committed Mr. McConnell was to protecting the tobacco control law passed in 2009.
Mr. Lindblom suggested that Congress could pass a free-standing bill that would raise the minimum age for purchase of tobacco products to 21. Or, he said, Mr. McConnell could start a new debate over provisions of the landmark act and add measures that would undo important restrictions.
“Raising the age to 21 by itself is terrific,” Mr. Lindblom said. “If that’s all the act said, it would be terrific. There’s no reason for the bill to say anything more than that.”