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54
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
MAY/JUNE 2012
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(DTP), which found “exclusive use of
DTPs by an individual would greatly
reduce risk for smoking-caused disease
compared with regular use of cigarettes”
by decreasing the number of smokers
and lowering the risk of tobacco-caused
disease.That’s the good news.
The bad news is it also noted a concern
that “availability of DTPs with lower risks
to health than cigarettes might affect the
public perception of all tobacco products
and lead to increased overall tobacco
use.” Jeff Stier of the National Center for
Public Policy Research in Washington,
D.C. commends the FDA committee
for the first part of its report. As for the
second part, he says the committee’s
concern that availability of dissolvable
tobacco products could lead to increased
overall tobacco use is reasonable, but as
long as “tobacco users are using non-
combustible products such as dissolvable
tobacco, rather than cigarettes, this could
actually be a boon for public health.”
Stier adds that since the committee could
not reach a conclusion as to the balance
between the potential risks and benefits
of DTPs, he would have preferred “a
more forceful endorsement” of the THR
movement.
Prof. Rodu also comments favorably
on the committee’s overall positive DTPs
report, but points out some flaws in its
population harm logic. Rodu says that it
is unclear how the committee suggests
that DTPs could cause harm “by either
increasing the number of tobacco users
or reducing cessation,” both of which
are persistent and speculative concerns
among tobacco control advocates,
according to Rodu. He explains that
since the risk of DTPs are at most about
two percent of the risks of smoking, the
increase in DTP users would have to
be over 50-fold to increase population
harm. There is also “unmistakable
evidence” that DTPs do not undermine
smoking cessation, he added.
Now that the TPSAC has submitted
its report, it is up to the FDA Center
for Tobacco Products to ultimately
determine the policy on dissolvables,
which industry experts speculate might
not come until 2013. The FDA merely
stated it plans to review the report’s
findings to decide on any future actions,
but there is no set timeline for the
agency to act.
In other news affecting dissolvable
tobacco, the March 30 FDA Draft
Guidance on Harmful and Potentially
Harmful Constituents in Tobacco
Products requires the disclosure of
the most critical toxins in tobacco
products. Paul Perito, president and
COO of Star Scientific, makers of Ariva
and Stonewall dissolvable smokeless
products, states he is “grateful” for the
action because it “underscores that not
all tobacco products are created equal
and that some are less hazardous than
others.”
TOB
As long as “tobacco users are using non-
combustible products such as dissolvable
tobacco, rather than cigarettes, this could
actually be a boon for public health.”