Menthol Update: FDA Completes Independent Review
BBC Investigation Supports CRE Comments to TPSAC on the Adverse Health Effects of Contrand Tobacco
BBC: ‘Toxic’ risk of counterfeit cigarettes sold in Sussex
From: BBC
Counterfeit cigarettes being sold in Sussex contain abnormally high levels of cancer-causing chemicals, a BBC investigation has revealed.
BBC South East Today found some brands had eight times as much lead as normal cigarettes.
Hastings MP Amber Rudd said many people were not aware of the dangers posed by brands smuggled into the country.
A pro-smoking lobby group said the high level of taxation on legal cigarettes was driving the illegal trade
The tests follow a BBC investigation in October into the illegal cigarette trade in Hastings and St Leonards.
Menthol in the Meantime
CSP Exclusive
No timeline set for FDA’s menthol report
CSP Daily News
ROCKVILLE, Md. — As the tobacco industry awaits a decision on menthol from the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Dr. Lawrence Deyton, CTP director, took time to provide information to CSP Daily News/Tobacco E-News about where the process currently stands.
Deyton explained that the menthol report provided to the CTP by the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee was a requirement of the Tobacco Control Act and “just that, advisory.” That report, released in March 2011, concluded that the “removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States.”
Menthol: Update on FDA’s Review of the Science
Menthol Update
Editor’s Note: CRE has a different view from FDA with respect to the applicability of the DQA peer review guidelines to this proceeding. CRE is of the view that the intent of the guidelines was to allow the public to interact with the peer reviewers while the peer review is underway. FDA has rejected the CRE call for transparency and public participation.
Update on FDA’s Review of the Science
Source: FDA
State Alcoholic Beverages Division to conduct tobacco checks for F.D.A.
Radio Iowa
The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division has won a three-year contract to help the F.D.A.’s effort to cut smoking among minors. I.A.B.D. spokesperson, Tonya Dusold, says the program will make sure retailers are complying with marketing and sales laws regarding tobacco.
She says the certified investigators will go out and do tobacco checks on retailers and then send that information for enforcement and penalties to the F.D.A. Dusold says it’s part of a nationwide effort to curb underage smoking.
Hot topics: Scientists to study dissolvable tobacco’s role in kicking habit
Source: NPR.org, INFORUM
The Food and Drug Administration has gathered a group of scientists and other experts to study flavored melt-in-your-mouth tobacco products.
The panel, meeting this week, will hear from two camps of stop-smoking advocates: those who worry that dissolvables are a gateway to smoking and others who say they help people kick the habit.
The government regulates dissolvables like other smokeless products such as chew and snuff and the warning labels are similar.
Companies can’t market dissolvables as a stop-smoking aid. Some health officials and a group of U.S. senators have called them “nicotine candy” and want the FDA to tighten the rules.
Ohio prisons study link between violence, tobacco
The Associated Press
Ohio’s top prison official has asked his department to investigate whether an increase in violence is linked to a tobacco ban and the subsequent use of contraband tobacco as a commodity among inmates.
“Tobacco has become a currency that’s used in our prisons,” with a hand-rolled cigarette valued at up to $5, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Gary Mohr told the Dayton Daily News .
Third in a Series: FDA’s Review of Menthol in Cigarettes
As required under the provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (the law which granted the FDA the authority to regulate cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco), the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) studied the use of menthol in cigarettes and issued a report and set of recommendations on March 18, 2011.
The TPSAC report contained numerous conclusions, and several of the most significant conclusions are as follows:
(1) The evidence does not indicate increased disease risks in smokers of menthol cigarettes compared to non-menthol cigarettes.
Crackdown on illicit tobacco is working in Cumbria – claim
By Pamela McGowan Health reporter
Published at 12:01, Tuesday, 17 January 2012
A major clampdown on illicit tobacco has made a dent in sales across Cumbria, a new survey has shown.
Since 2009 a campaign has been underway to encourage organisations to tackle sales of illegal cigarettes and tobacco. Since then, the total volume being bought has dropped by 11 per cent across the north west, including Cumbria.
This equates to nearly 60 million fewer illegal cigarettes – and over £13m less in duty and VAT evasion as a result.
Linn supervisors consider nicotine regulation
The Ariva tablet is “the future of tobacco,” according to its maker. A proposal in Linn County to regulate the sale of the dissolvable product may be the future of public-health efforts to restrict access to nicotine.
“These products are popping up more and more,” said Jill Roeder, Linn County Public Health healthy behaviors branch manager. “This is just to set the stage so when they come our kids can’t buy them.”
At least one retailer doesn’t care to be caught up by the new rules.