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

From: Los Angeles Daily News

By Richard Carmona

On the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s Report linking smoking and cancer, tobacco-caused death and disability persists, killing more than 430,000 Americans per year and disabling millions more with chronic diseases at immense social and financial costs.

The Los Angeles City Council is considering adding electronic cigarettes to the city’s current indoor smoking ban. Including electronic cigarettes in L.A.’s indoor smoking ban is a huge mistake because it may significantly hinder what is emerging as the most promising weapon yet in the fight against tobacco-related illness and death.

From: National Public Radio

by Jenny Lei Bolario

Electronic cigarettes are often billed as a safe way for smokers to try to kick their habit. But it’s not just smokers who are getting their fix this way. According to  published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 5 middle school students who’ve tried one say they’ve never smoked a “real” cigarette. And between 2011 and 2012, e-cigarettes doubled in popularity among middle and high school students.

At a middle school in the San Francisco Bay Area, Viviana Turincio, an 8th grader, recently noticed some kids smoking in class — or at least, that’s what it looked like.

Editor’s Note:  The following is a brief excerpt from a Medscape interview with Mitch Zeller, JD, Director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. The complete interview is available here.

From: Medscape

Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP,  Mitch Zeller, JD

Medscape: The AAP released a press statement praising the FDA for this effort but also urging increased federal regulation of all tobacco products, including electronic nicotine delivery devices (e-cigarettes). Can you discuss the current regulatory parameters under which the FDA operates? With the example of CVS, does the FDA have the authority to regulate tobacco at the point of sale?

Editor’s Note: complete article “Achieving appropriate regulations for electronic cigarettes” by Daniela Saitta, Giancarlo Antonio Ferro and Riccardo Polosa published in Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease is available here.