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WINSTON-SALEM, NC Any plan to regulate cigarettes by the Food and Drug Administration will face opposition from US Senator Richard Burr...

Any plan to regulate cigarettes by the Food and Drug Administration will face opposition from U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican from the heart of North Carolina's tobacco industry.

"I would use every legislative tool at my disposal," said Burr, of Winston-Salem, home to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Burr acknowledged he's unlikely to have the support of at least 40 other senators, which would allow the use of a filibuster to halt Senate action. But, he said, there's other options.

"I could make it a long and painful process," he said.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has made FDA regulation of tobacco products a top priority.

Outlining his legislative agenda shortly after the November elections, Kennedy said empowering the FDA to regulate tobacco products "is long overdue."

"Effective FDA regulation will help to deter young people from starting to smoke and to assist current smokers in quitting," Kennedy said.

Burr, while a member of the House of Representatives, worked to help ensure the regulation of cigarettes was not included in the tobacco-quota buyout bill in 2004.

North Carolina is the nation's No. 1 tobacco-producing state.