24
TOBACCO BUSINESS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
Gold 100mm RYO filtered cigarette
tubes also by Republic Tobacco
LP. The FDA updated its “Tobacco
Product Marketing Orders” webpage
to reflect the new SE orders.
…An FDA notice published in
the December 19 Federal Register
with Docket No. FDA-2013-N-1588
solicits comments for 60 days
on exemptions from
substantial
equivalence
requirements
for
tobacco products. See https://
federalregister.gov/a/2013-30137.
…The OMB’s OIRA posted rules
governing the FDA’s issuance of a
proposed rule to deem products
that meet the
statutory definition
of “tobacco product”
(other than
cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-
your-own tobacco and smokeless
tobacco, which are already under
FDA regulation) to be subject to the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
Act, as amended by the Family
Smoking Prevention and Tobacco
Control Act.
…OIRA’s
meeting
records
show that it hosted five separate
meetings with stakeholders in
November, when five e-cig industry
executives argued during one of the
meetings against
treating e-cigs
like traditional cigarettes,
saying
that the devices “are a desperately
needed new approach to stopping
tobacco smoking” and “[i]f we are
serious about reducing spiraling
health care costs, there is no
better way to have a dramatic and
near term impact than fostering
e-cigarette use.” E-cig manufacturer
NJOY called for “appropriate”
regulation that would not ban TV
ads or require e-cigs to be sold
behind store counters.
…According to law firm Troutman
Sanders, the FDA’s letter to the
National Association of Attorneys
General, in response to a request
signed by 42 state and territorial
attorneys general to regulate
e-cigs, agrees that
e-cigs should
be regulated
and indicates that
the deeming regulations will apply
all generally applicable provisions
of the Family Smoking Prevention
and Tobacco Control Act to the
newly deemed tobacco products
that fall within the definition of
tobacco
products,
presumably
including e-cigs, but also suggests
that other, non-generally applicable
requirements will be applied on a
case-by-case basis.
…An article in
The Wall Street
Journal
’s “Corporate Intelligence”
blog says that the success of
e-cigs has the potential of making
nicotine
a
“socially-accepted
stimulant
[that] people can enjoy
in relative safety,” but a lot depends
on “whether regulators and anti-
smoking campaigners will view
e-cigarettes as an opportunity to
reduce the rate of smoking and
related illnesses, or as a threat that
could extend the lifespan of the very
cigarette industry that many groups
instinctively oppose.”
…A report out of the University
of Waterloo titled ITC Canada
National Report and prepared by
the International Tobacco Control
Policy Evaluation Project says,
among other things, that e-cigs are
readily available in retail outlets
and that “it is almost certain that
e-cigarettes are less harmful
than
tobacco cigarettes,” but the degree
to which they may benefit public
health will depend on whether they
promote dual use and whether
they encourage youth initiation;
cigarette affordability increased
by 1.4 percent per year between
2002 and 2010; and 66 percent of
smokers said in 2011 that they would
“support” or “strongly support” a
law to ban additives and flavorings.
…
Forbes
contributor
Rob
Waters, Phillip Gardiner of the
African American Tobacco Control
Leadership Council, and Larry Cohen
and Dalila Butler of the Prevention
Institute wrote that
menthol
cigarettes
are “unequal-opportunity
killers that disproportionately hook
young people, African Americans
and other people of color, harming
their health and reducing their life
expectancy,” and urge the FDA to
ban the flavoring.
…An
Assembly
Concurrent
Resolution introduced in New
Jersey on November 18 would urge
the FDA and President Obama to
enact measures
overseeing the
sale and use of electronic smoking
devices
and conduct research on
the health impacts of the devices on
users and third parties.
…The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration announced November
15 that it is authorizing the sale
and marketing of eight additional
tobacco products, all manufactured
by
Swedish
Match
North
America, through the
substantial
equivalence
pathway: Timber Wolf
Long Cut Wintergreen, Renegade
Long Cut Straight, Renegade Long
Cut Wintergreen, Timber Wolf
Long Cut Apple, Timber Wolf Long
Cut Peach, Timber Wolf Long Cut
Straight, Timber Wolf Long Cut Cool
Wintergreen, and Timber Wolf Fine
Cut Wintergreen.
…In a November 4 letter to
FDA Commissioner Margaret A.
Hamburg, U.S. Reps. Henry A.
Waxman
(D-California),
Diana
DeGette (D-Colorado) and Frank
Pallone, Jr. (D-New Jersey) called
on the agency to act immediately
TMA REPORT
