A Public Participation Forum for the FDA Center for Tobacco Products and its Federal Advisory Committee (TPSAC)

The  Hill

Two weeks after fighting for the survival of its signature healthcare reform law before the Supreme Court, the Obama administration will be back in court Tuesday to defend another part of the president’s agenda to make Americans healthier.

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 4/4/2012

author: Seth A. Mailhot]

As part of Sheppard Mullin’s monthly blog on tobacco retailer issues, we are taking a look at the possible future of retailer-operated rolling machines. On March 8, 2012, the U.S. Senate adopted an amendment to the federal highway bill “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act” (MAP–21) that included a provision impacting retail establishments that offer rolling machines for use to customers. The provision would have changed the definition of “manufacturer of tobacco products” in section 5702(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to “include any person who for commercial purposes makes available for consumer use . . . a machine capable of making cigarettes, cigars, or other tobacco products.”[1]

From: EurActiv

A new report on the crime effects of smoking demonstrates that there would be an increase in counterfeit cigarettes, smuggling, and hard-line new rules could be counter-productive, argues Milan-based professor Ernesto Savona.

Baynet. com

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released two separate draft guidance documents to help fight the tobacco epidemic and stop children from using tobacco. The draft guidance documents implement provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that will ultimately provide the public with previously unknown information about the chemicals in tobacco products and help prevent misleading marketing about the risks associated with tobacco products.

The first document provides guidance on how companies will comply with the requirement to report on the quantities of potentially harmful chemicals in tobacco products. The second document provides guidance to companies that seek to advertise or market a tobacco product as less harmful or associated with reducing the risk of tobacco-related disease.