THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, August 3, 1994              TAG: 9408030399
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

SCIENTISTS ADVISING FDA CONCLUDE THAT NICOTINE IS A DRUG THE DECISION MARKS THE FIRST STEP IN THE AGENCY'S EFFORT TO REGULATE CIGARETTES.

A panel of scientists agreed Tuesday that nicotine in cigarettes is an addictive drug, much like heroin and cocaine, an important first step toward the possible eventual regulation of cigarettes by the federal government.

The Food and Cosmetic Act gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate drugs that are intended to affect the structure and function of the body.

The nine-member Drug Abuse Advisory Committee to the FDA voted overwhelmingly that nicotine is the active agent in tobacco that causes people to become hooked. The committee also agreed that current nicotine levels in cigarettes on the market lead to addiction.

``The vote today changes the way we have to look at the whole issue of tobacco,'' FDA Commissioner David Kessler said. ``The tobacco industry says it's a matter of adult free choice. But it may be that when someone starts smoking at 11 or 12, they don't think they're going to get hooked, and maybe only when they're older, realize that they are.''

The next step, Kessler said, is for the FDA to establish that cigarette manufacturers intended to use nicotine in cigarettes to get people addicted. Kessler set no time frame for making such a determination.

Tuesday's daylong, often acrimonious hearing and vote were necessary procedural steps for the FDA to establish its own scientific record before regulating cigarettes as drug-delivery systems for nicotine. The tobacco industry is challenging that process in a fight for survival.

Industry scientists argued that the premise that nicotine is addictive is false. Dr. John Robinson, a scientist with RJR Nabisco Co., called smoking more of a habit associated with sensory pleasure, like caffeine. The proposal to limit nicotine in cigarettes would amount to little more than ``nicotine prohibition'' that would result in a massive ``social experiment,'' Robinson said. by CNB