New legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration jurisdiction over tobacco products represents a serious compromise on the part of tobacco control advocates, according to an essay in the open access journal Public Library of Science— Medicine. Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and his colleagues say that the new policy is another example of legislative compromise with the tobacco industry that can lead to short-term public health gains at the expense of long-term progress.  We spoke to Glantz about his concerns over the legislation, why it may be an obstacle to meaningful regulation of the industry, and why some in big tobacco welcome FDA regulation.