(Adds House vote postponed) WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama strongly supports legislation that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate cigarettes, the White House said on Wednesday. The bill, poised for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, would authorize the FDA to oversee the multibillion-dollar tobacco industry, including its advertisements and product designs. The agency could ban marketing to children, require larger warnings on packages and force companies to lower but not eliminate nicotine content in cigarettes. Supporters said the effort would reduce smoking, the biggest preventable cause of death in the United States. An estimated 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. The measure will "yield major benefits to the public health," the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. Opponents of the bill question the FDA's ability to take on the new responsibility after it has struggled in recent years to oversee tainted foods and risky medicines. Industry reaction has been mixed. The nation's largest cigarette maker, Altria Group Inc's <MO.N> Philip Morris unit, supports the bill. Some smaller companies also back it, but Reynolds American Inc's <RAI.N> R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and others say it would burden manufacturers by making them register with the FDA and keep various records. The House debated the bill on Wednesday but postponed votes on it until Thursday. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Carol Bishopric)
Bill Gates (R), the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks as he and Chinese Minister of Health Chen Zhu attend a signing ceremony on tuberculosis prevention and treatment ...
