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

The Indian  Express

The campaign against smoking at public places and sale of gutkha packets within 100 metres of educational institutions seems to have lost steam in the city with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unable to strictly implement Sections 4 and 6 of the Control of Tobacco Products Act (COTPA). After an impressive show in 2010-11, as seen from the fines collected from violators, 2011-12 saw a dip in number of people being fined. Food and Drug Administration officials admit that the focus on regularisation of licenses of food vendors under the Food and Safety Standards Act was partly responsible for the decline in 2011-12.

FDA

Meetings with Industry and  Investigators on the Research and  Development of Tobacco Products

FDA Meeting Guidance

Deadline News  UK

NHS Fife has prohibited the use of the battery-operated devices in all their premises.

The devices work by heating nicotine capsules to give smokers their fix without the harmful chemicals.

An 117mm electronic cigarette.

But health bosses say the gadgets are a potential fire hazard, claiming that the heating element that it contains could set bedding alight and that the vapour may set off smoke alarms.

Other NHS trusts are considering implementing similar bans, with NHS Tayside expected to be the next trust to do so.

Professor Siegel: Rest of the Story

In an act of selective paternalism, the California State University at Fullerton has banned all tobacco use on campus, including smoking in cars and all smokeless tobacco use. The reason for the ban? According to the president of the Academic Senate: “Shouldn’t the university be about health?”

Editor’s  Note:  The accuracy of  the following  statement  will be determined in large part by whether FDA’s  Harm Reduction is confined to cessation or  if, as stautorily required,  allows  for a  decrease in the exposure to toxicants.

“One respondent went so far as to describe e-cigarettes as an “extreme liability risk,” noting the lack of regulation in both the United States and in China, where most of the products are manufactured.”

 By JANICE PODSADA, jpodsada@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

Last month, the Government Accountability Office found that cases of roll-your-own tobacco were being sold in packages labeled as pipe tobacco. The federal excise tax on loose tobacco used for roll-your-own cigarettes is $22 per pound higher than the excise tax on pipe tobacco.

 Editor’s  Note:  We have had our doubts whether FDA’s  harm reduction progam was in fact a cessation only program.  FDA actions suggest our concerns were well founded.

 Rest of the Story- Professor Siegel

 Tobacco Truth

 I recently testified before theKansaslegislature in support of a resolution asking the state health department to review the scientific evidence for tobacco harm reduction and its potential benefits for smokers.  An American Cancer Society spokesperson opposed the resolution, saying that because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates tobacco, it is unnecessary and a waste of resources for any other agency to review tobacco harm reduction.

 The FDA was authorized to regulate tobacco in 2009.  In March of this year, the agency released a 50-page draft document advising what information will be required for a product to be accepted by the agency as “modified [i.e. reduced] risk” (available here).

Marla Scarola –Weinberg Group

In March 2011, the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee released a report on the impact of menthol on public health.  Based on the committee’s review of all available evidence, they recommended the ban of menthol.  Following the release of TPSAC’s report, the FDA began a thorough review of their findings and also considered a report on the issue prepared by the tobacco industry.  Stakeholders continue to await the FDA’s final determination and it is unclear when this information will be available.

WASHINGTON — Americans’ smoking habits experienced “sizable market shifts” since federal tobacco taxes were increased in 2009, a new government report concludes.

Sales of pipe tobacco and large cigars, which are taxed at a lower rate, have skyrocketed as smokers have adjusted their buying habits to the new price structure.

Pipe tobacco is increasingly used to make relatively inexpensive cartons of roll-your-own cigarettes. The Fox Valley has several shops with roll-your-own machines available for customers.

Kim Schafer of Appleton Souvenir and Cigar Co. said she’s noticed changing trends in tobacco use.