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RALEIGH — Four conservative religious leaders from North Carolina Thursday called on Sen. Richard Burr to drop his opposition to a tobacco regulation bill he blocked last year.

The measure Burr opposes would let the Food and Drug Administration regulate cigarettes and tobacco products, possibly leading to better labeling and, the ministers say, almost certainly saving lives.

“This is a simplistic issue:   Place public health above politics. This is not about Democrats and Republicans. In fact, I am a registered Republican and supporter of Senator Burr,” said the Rev. Curtis Norris, a pastor from Olivia and former president of the Missionary Methodist Conference of North Carolina.

Burr calls tobacco “the most-regulated product sold in America” and says giving the FDA responsibility for overseeing it would distract the agency from its mission of making sure food and drugs are safe.

Gathered at an office park in Raleigh, the four ministers pointed to a bill that passed the House last year. It would have given the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.

That measure did not advance through the Senate, in large part because Burr, a Republican, threatened to filibuster it.

At the time, Burr had the backing of Republican President George W. Bush, who leaves office next week. With Democrat Barack Obama as president and Democrats holding a wider margin in the Senate, Burr may find this bill harder to block.

But some Democrats agree with Burr, including Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat from Greensboro who was sworn in this month.

“I just think the FDA has their hands full with so many other things having to do with regulation affecting the American public,” Hagan said recently.

North Carolina is home to tobacco growers, and some of the industry’s leading manufacturers have their headquarters here, including Lorillard in Greensboro and R.J. Reynolds in Winston-Salem.

Speakers at the event in Raleigh on Thursday said they were focused on Burr because he has a history of forcefully opposing the bill.

“Speaking as a citizen, I view the senator’s threatened filibuster as a thinly veiled act of protectionism for the strong tobacco lobby,” said the Rev. Brian Wingo, a Methodist minister from Durham and chairman of a statewide organization of ministers.

David Hansley, who leads outreach efforts for the Original Free Will Baptists, and the Rev. Mark Creech, director of the Christian Action League, also called on Burr to relent.

In a recent interview, however, Burr said it makes little sense to have the FDA regulate tobacco.

“The FDA mission statement is to prove the safety and efficacy of drugs, devices and biologics,” Burr said.

None of that can be determined on a product such as tobacco, Burr said. The proposed legislation would create a separate section of the FDA whose mission is different from the rest of the agency.

Still, Burr said that this would be a distraction that would “hamstring” the agency.

“I don’t hide the fact that I’m from a tobacco state, but I also don’t hide the fact that I believe the credibility and integrity of FDA should be maintained,” Burr said.

Rather than give the FDA the mission of regulating tobacco, Burr said the task should be given to other federal agencies. He said he was working on legislation that would put “a new regulatory map in place.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com