Basic HTML Version
22
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
JULY/AUGUST 2012
TMA Reports ...
TMA REPORT
By FARRELL DELMAN
Farrell Delman,
President, TMA
…Anticipating aU.S. TradeRepresentative announcement
of an intent to comply with the World Trade Organization’s
April 4 ruling that the
U.S. ban on cigarette flavors
except
menthol is inconsistent with trade obligations to Indonesia,
Deutsche Bank analysts said the U.S. is likely to negotiate
non-tobacco concessions to Indonesia, rather than to re-
allow clove-flavored cigarettes or ban menthol, adding
that such an announcement would not reveal the FDA’s
ultimate intent on menthol, as the announcement would be
“essentially meeting a WTO deadline without knowing FDA
plans.”
…The FDA Center for Tobacco Products sent
a warning
letter
to www.Low-Price-Cigarettes.com, stating that the
Kiss Super Slims Fresh Apple and Doina Lux Premium
“chocolate flavor” cigarettes offered for sale on its website
are adulterated under the Federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
Act,
as amended by the
Family Smoking Prevention and
Tobacco Control Act
. The letter warns that the products are
purported to contain a “characterizing flavor” in violation
of the Act’s ban on “an artificial or natural flavor (other
than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice...that is a
characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco
smoke.” The CTP sent a similar warning letter to Samuel
Horst of Classica Trading Center over the Kiss Super Slims
Fresh Apple, Richmond Cherry and Doina Lux Premium
“chocolate flavor” cigarettes offered for sale on its website
www.shopping-heaven.com, and to www.online-dutyfree.
com over the Richmond Cherry, Aroma Rich Apple, Rich
Rum and Cherry cigarettes offered for sale on the website.
…Prof. Michael Siegel of Boston University’s School
of Public Health said U.S. anti-smoking groups such as
the Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and
Dependence, the Mayo Clinic and the American Legacy
Foundation want
e-cigarettes to be banned
until they have
been shown to be “safe and effective,” but that is not the
appropriate standard that the FDA must use in regulating
the device, as the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in December
2010 upheld the classification of e-cigarettes as a tobacco
product, making the “safe and effective” drug standard
inappropriate in deciding whether e-cigarettes, which is an
“alternative tobacco product,” should be allowed to remain
on the market.
…Online cigar marketer Best Cigar Prices on May 17
urged “all cigar enthusiasts” to ask their elected officials
to support HR.1639 or S.1461, the
Traditional Cigar
Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act
,
which amends the Federal FD&C Act to exempt traditional
large and premium cigars from FDA regulation and from
user fees the FDA assesses on tobacco products.
…The FDA Center for Tobacco Products posted on its
website a warning letter it sent to Winston-Salem, North
Carolina-based Pamco Inc, d/b/a Tar Heel Tobacco, which
says Pamco’s
ads for smokeless tobacco products
that
appeared in the
Winston-Salem Journal
in December 2011
failed to include relevant warnings required under the
Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act
of 1986, as amended by the
Family Smoking Prevention and
Tobacco Control Act
, and asks the company to “take any
necessary actions to bring your smokeless tobacco product
advertising into compliance with the law.”
…U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Frank R.
Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) announced that the U.S. Senate
Appropriations Committee passed and sent to the full
Senate the FY13 appropriations bill for Agriculture, Rural
Development, FDA and Related Agencies. The bill includes
language urging the FDA to issue
deeming regulations
asserting its regulatory authority over currently unregulated
tobacco products, including cigars, with the senators
saying this provision “would help decrease the staggering
rate of cigar use by children and young adults” by banning
On FDA Regulation…