Center for Tobacco Products News

CLARENCE, N.Y., Apr 10, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — 22nd Century Group, Inc. /quotes/zigman/3019722 XXII -32.00% , a company focused on tobacco harm reduction and smoking cessation, announced that applications will be filed with the FDA for two types of modified risk cigarettes in accordance with the FDA’s March 30, 2012 Draft Guidance on Modified Risk Tobacco Product Applications. 22nd Century also issued the following comments on the FDA’s draft guidance, including the company’s position that availability of less hazardous cigarettes should complement efforts to prevent the initiation of tobacco use and encourage smoking cessation in the interest of promoting public health.

America’s Food and Drug Administration and city governments are not making life easy for tobacco makers these days. As cities across the U.S. have kicked smokers out into the streets outside of bars and restaurants, the FDA has attempted to make the sale of tobacco products increasingly more expensive and more difficult.

The most recent effort by the FDA is to require tobacco companies to report “the amount of unsafe chemicals in their products and prove their so-called lower-risk alternatives to smoking such as snuff are actually safer,” according to Bloomberg Businessweek.