Washington ? To aid the nation’s fight against cancer, the federal government should increase taxes on tobacco products and strictly regulate the sales and marketing of tobacco, says an advisory panel to the president.

Both recommendations, part of a report released Thursday, place the panel at odds with President Bush.

The administration’s position is that tax increases to fund spending increases are inadvisable.

Also, giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco could give consumers the impression that the government was giving an unsafe product its stamp of approval, the administration has argued.

The President’s Cancer Panel is charged with monitoring the nation’s efforts to eliminate cancer and meets at least four times a year.

This year’s report is longer and more far-reaching than past reports, which customarily focus on one aspect of cancer. This report looked at the effect of obesity and smoking on cancer.

The panel noted that 2007 brought about the steepest decline in cancer deaths ever reported. Yet, more than a half million Americans will die from cancer this year, and nearly two-thirds of those deaths could have been avoided through changes in lifestyle.