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16
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
JULY/AUGUST 2012
NEWS & TRENDS
Employing its broad enforcement
authority, the CTP is proposing to
allow the general public to submit
reports of potential retail tobacco
violations electronically, or by
telephone or mail.
“NATO and its members have
objected to this proposal as being
unauthorized, unnecessary and
unfair,” according to a recent report
from Tom Briant, executive director.
“Congress authorized the FDA to
contract with states and train state
inspectors to conduct inspections on
retail stores, but did not instruct the
FDA to allow the untrained public to
become involved in policing tobacco
retailers and submitting reports about
possible violations of the federal
tobacco regulations. With three-
fourths of the states now conducting
FDA retail inspections and the
agency working to contract with the
remaining states, there is no need to
allow the public to become involved
in the enforcement of the tobacco
regulations.”
Briant went on to point out that the
proposal may lead to inaccurate or
even false reports being submitted
to the FDA by members of anti-
tobacco organizations targeting
specific retailers. The FDA reportedly
rejected the concerns raised by
NATO and its members about this
proposed retail violation reporting
form and requested that the Office of
Management and Budget authorize
the use of the form by the public.
Menthol in Cigarettes:
The
FDA’s Tobacco Product Scientific
Advisory Committee (TPSAC)
submitted its final report to the
CTP regarding the impact of the
use of menthol on the public
health in March of 2011. In June of
2011, the CTP announced that the
TPSAC’s report had been reviewed
and then submitted the agency’s
review of the menthol issue to an
external peer review panel in July
of 2011. This peer review panel is
evaluating the agency’s final review
and the FDA will then publish its
final menthol report in the
Federal
Register
, which will be open to
public comment.
There is no deadline date for a final
report to be issued by the FDA to the
public.
Regulation of Other Tobacco
Products:
Just last month, the FDA
published an announcement on
the Federal Business Opportunities
website that the agency intends
to issue a “deeming regulation“
sometime during the summer of 2012
to cover other tobacco products. This
means that the FDA plans to issue
sometime this summer a proposed
regulation covering other tobacco
products such as cigars, cigarillos,
e-cigarettes, hookahs and possibly
other tobacco products. The extent of
the proposed regulation is not known
at this time, but will be published in
the
Federal Register
when released
by the CTP.
FDA Calling On Consumers?
The Center for Tobacco Products is considering asking consumers to report violations.
Retailer Compliance Strong
State inspections continue, but retailers fare well.
The FDA has contracts with 37 states
and the District of Columbia to conduct
federal inspections of retail stores that
sell tobacco. In these inspections,
trained state agency inspectors visit
retail stores and talk with staffers to
ensure compliance with FDA tobacco
regulations and to determine whether
minors are able to purchase tobacco
products at the location.
As of April 30, 2012, the states
under contract with the FDA had
conducted 59,486 retail inspections
and issued 2,594 warnings for first
time retail violations, as well as 145
civil money penalty complaints to
those retailers with two or more
inspection violations, according to
the FDA. Only slightly more than 4
percent of retailers inspected were in
violation, according to these figures.
The 37 states currently con–
ducting inspections under FDA
contract are: Alabama, Arizona,
Arkansas, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia,
Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,
Virginia, Washington, Washington,
D.C., West Virginia and Wisconsin.