Tobacco Panel To Advise FDA On Menthol, Smokeless Tobacco
August 25 2009 - 12:18PM
Dow Jones News
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday said it is
creating a 12-person panel to advise the agency on sensitive areas
of overseeing the tobacco industry.
The panel, which will include three tobacco industry
representatives, will advise the FDA on the impact of menthol in
cigarettes, the use of descriptors such as "light" on tobacco
packages and other sensitive issues as the agency grapples with
implementing new powers to oversee the massive tobacco
industry.
Tobacco legislation banned into law this year bans companies
from selling flavored tobacco products, but not menthol cigarettes.
One area where the panel will likely have a large impact is
smokeless tobacco. Tobacco companies such as Philip Morris and
Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) have in recent years begun
aggressively developing smokeless tobacco products that are
dissolvable in the mouth. Tobacco companies want to be able to
market these products as less risky than traditional tobacco
products.
The new law says they can't market them as less risky unless
they prove so. The panel will likely advise the agency on setting
benchmarks for what data are necessary to determine whether one
tobacco product is less risky than another. The FDA says the panel
will advise the agency on how smokeless tobacco products affect
public health, particularly that of children.
The FDA has been moving rapidly since President Barack Obama
signed into law in June legislation that gives the FDA the
authority to regulate the tobacco industry. Last week, the FDA
named a former Veterans Affairs public health chief, Dr. Lawrence
Deyton, to head the tobacco division. Deyton has a history of
starting public health initiatives and began smoking-cessation
programs at the VA that lowered smoking rates among veterans.
The agency is seeking nominations for the panel members. Eight
of the members will be experts in medicine, medical ethics science
and tobacco technology, according to a press release from the FDA.
The three members from the industry, who won't have voting power,
will be taken from small and large tobacco manufacturing companies
and tobacco farmers. There will be one person from the general
public on the panel.
The FDA's new powers allow the agency to restrict tobacco
advertising and promotions, collect user fees from tobacco
companies and stop the illegal sales of cigarettes and other
products to children.
- By Jared A. Favole, Dow Jones Newswires; 202.862.9207;
jared.favole@dowjones.com