Fox News
WASHINGTON -
Big tobacco companies are breathing a sigh of relief Friday morning.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has scrapped a series of graphic warning labels for cigarettes.
It’s decided not to challenge a court ruling which said the shocking images violated free speech protections.
Attorney General Eric Holder says the FDA will propose new labels. However, that could take a few years.
The Hill
By Ben Goad
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considerating of a series of year-old regulatory recommendations issued by a coalition of tobacco companies.
Beginning Tuesday, interested parties and members of the public will have 60 days to consider the proposal submitted to FDA in January of last year. The recommendations relate to manufacturing practices and the industry’s interpretation of existing regulations, according to a notice to be published in the federal register.
A docket will be created for comments and related materials, including the proposal, here.
Editor’s Note: The author of the following article concludes:
“The FDA has done an admirable job – to date – resisting the entreaties of anti-tobacco protesters to use the legislation as a vehicle for a full on assault on cigarette makers.”
We agree and suggest that all stakeholders express their support for FDA’s insistence on basing decisions on sound science. However CRE is very concerned about the following statement:
“ Activists have managed to infiltrate the middle ranks of the agency’s center“
Bloomberg
British American Tobacco Plc (BATS) said it may sell an alternative nicotine product in the U.K. as early as next year, as Europe’s largest cigarette maker moves to counter stricter global restrictions on smoking.
The maker of Lucky Strikes is expecting approval for a new “tobacco inhalation device” that is not an electronic cigarette by the end of this year and it could be “ready to launch some time in 2014, if not, 2015,” Kingsley Wheaton, BAT’s director of corporate and regulatory affairs, said in a telephone interview today.
Mitch Zeller will become the center’s director on March 4, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in an internal memo sent late Thursday and confirmed by The Associated Press.
The center was created following a 2009 law gave the FDA authority to regulate a number of aspects of tobacco marketing and manufacturing, though the agency cannot ban nicotine or cigarettes outright. Its first chief, Dr. Lawrence Deyton, plans to step down and become a professor of medicine and health policy at George Washington University, Hamburg said.
Professor Michael Siegel
The Rest of the Story
In an op-ed published in the Arizona Republic, the Southwest chapter of the American Lung Association has called for a federal ban on the television advertising of electronic cigarettes, protesting against an ad that appeared in the Phoenix area during the Super Bowl and urging the FDA to ban such ads in the future.
OHS Occupational Health and Safety
Four labels already are required that warn of oral cancer and addiction, but the agency has established a public docket to accept comments on how to increase public understanding of the risks.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration soon may require stronger warnings on smokeless tobacco products. The agency has established a public docket to accept comments on how to increase public understanding of the risks.
Comments may be submitted via http://www.regulations.gov (Docket No. FDA-2012-N-1032) for the next 60 days.
Alter Net
Last May, New York City banned smoking in parks, beaches, boardwalks and pedestrian plazas. Mayor Bloomberg said, “When you ask people in our parks and beaches they say they just don’t want smokers there.”
White Smoke Review
Perhaps one of the most controversial gadgets today is the electronic cigarette. These electronic cigarettes, or also more commonly referred to as e-cigarettes or e-cigs, are considered to be by some as the best alternative to smoking.
The purpose of the workshop is to discuss the recommendation in the Institute of Medicine’s report, “Scientific Standards for Studies on Modified Risk Tobacco Products,” that sponsors of Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) applications use independent third parties to undertake one or more key functions in tobacco product research (third party governance). FDA is also considering third party governance as it relates more generally to tobacco research. Our goal is to receive input from interested stakeholders regarding features from existing third party governance models that may be applicable to tobacco product research.
