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

 
Bloomberg  News

GREENSBORO — Todd Ridge stopped smoking Camel Lights last year after taxes pushed the price to $4.60 a pack. Now he makes his own cigarettes at the Liberty Tobacco store in Archdale, cutting his habit’s cost in half.

Over the past 4-1/2 years, mom-and-pop stores have installed more than 1,900 roll-your-own cigarette machines in 42 states, according to RYO Machines, which makes them. Taking advantage of a loophole in federal tax laws, some retailers are selling tobacco labeled as the pipe variety, which is taxed less, even though it often winds up in cigarettes.

CSD Staff |

Following a federal court decision that graphic warning labels were unconstitutional, an appellate court has ruled that requiring cigarette warning labels are not a violation of free speech, rather they fall under commercial speech disclosures, are disclosing the health risks of cigarettes and are reasonably related to the government’s interest of preventing the deception of consumers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a ruling on the appeal of a 2009 lawsuit challenging numerous FDA tobacco regulations, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) reported.

Editor’s Note: CRE is generally in sync with a number of statements made on CSPNet.Com—a website sponsored by the retailing industry. Regarding the menthol proceeding, CSPNet.com states: “the extensive delay has become the butt of jokes and doubts about the FDA’s ability to truly oversee the complex tobacco industry.”

We fail to understand why  it is a joke when a federal agency works in a diligent manner to base its analyses and decisions on sound science and therefore not act in an arbitrary fashion to address an alleged delay which is not at all that  extensive given the complexity and myriad of  issues the FDA is addressing.

SeakingAlpha. Com

Another day, another series of legal challenges for the tobacco companies. Is their any industry other than the tobacco industry where the legal and regulatory environment has been more treacherous over the last several decades? While the big three, Altria (MO), Reynolds (RAI), Lorillard (LO), faced their biggest legal challenges in the 1990s, the onslaught of constant civil litigation against these companies has continued. While the S&P 500 (SPY) has outperfomred most tobacco and other consumer staple names this year, most major U.S. tobacco companies have outperformed major index funds by a large margin over the last several decades.

EDITORIAL | TOM KEANE

March 10, 2012|By Tom Keane

 Boston Globe

FREE SPEECH has been in the news lately. In the wake of Rush Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student a “slut,’’ the ubiquity of vile commentary has caught public attention. CNN contributor Roland Martin tweeting an anti-gay comment and liberal talk show host Bill Maher calling Sarah Palin a “dumb [expletive]’’ are just two more examples of a coarsening of political discourse that treats the ad hominem as argument and polarizes rather than illuminates.

FDA Appealing Cigarette Warning Label DecisionChallenging ruling tossing out graphic image requirement as violation of free speech

ACSH

Last summer, the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) released a report that was supposed to help guide the FDA in deciding whether to ban menthol cigarettes from the market. Instead of issuing a specific recommendation, however, the TPSAC report merely suggested that the agency should consider all of the potential effects of a menthol ban if it does consider such a policy. Unlike TPSAC, however, ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross has a strong opinion on the potential menthol proscription: He thinks it’s a bad idea. “The rationale for such a ban is flawed, and the repercussions will be dangerous for public health,” he says.

 Andrew Zajac

March 2 (Bloomberg) — The Obama administration’s delay of costly regulations, including one to require rearview cameras on cars and light trucks, weakens a Republican line of attack ahead of the election.

President Barack Obama has been hammered by Republicans for promulgating expensive rules, and the party’s front-runner for the presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, vows to do away with “job-killing regulation.” The camera requirement, mandated by a 2008 law signed by Republican President George W. Bush, was listed by the Obama administration last year as one of the five most expensive pending regulations, with an estimated price tag of as much as $2.7 billion.

Bloomberg NewsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration was blocked Wednesday by a federal judge from requiring tobacco companies to put graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging.

 Yesterday CTP held a meeting, chaired by Dr. Ashley, aimed at describing its research program. The agency described in considerable detail the wide range  of research programs it was undertaking.

 The program was highly interactive in that it was not the normal drab program of technical wonks speaking in a monotone to a dazed audience. Instead each panel was followed by a lively discussion of relevant issues.

 CTP made it clear that the purpose of the meeting was not only to educate the audience of what it was doing but that CTP was  interested in the scientific undertakings of those attending the meeting.