From: AAFP
Letter Calls on Agency to Develop Enforcement Policies Independently
***
How the FDA addresses the black market for legally manufactured cigarettes, including underage consumption of them, is central to a July 16 letter(21 page PDF) the AAFP and other health organizations sent the agency.
The joint letter was sent in response to an FDA call for comments on a draft paper titled “Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products After Implementation of an FDA Product Standard”(www.gpo.gov) and echoes the Academy’s own recent lettersto the agency, which called for strong regulation of flavored tobacco products, premium cigars and nicotine levels in cigarettes.
Adopting such measures, the AAFP stated, could decrease youth tobacco use and help prevent long-term addiction to tobacco products.
Citing the Academy’s comprehensive position paper on preventing and treating nicotine dependence and tobacco use, those three letters — addressed to FDA Associate Commissioner for Policy Leslie Kux and signed by AAFP Board Chair John Meigs, M.D., of Centreville, Ala. — stated: “The AAFP believes the FDA should have the authority to regulate the manufacture, sale, labeling, distribution and marketing of all tobacco products, including cigars of all sizes and flavors, as well as electronic nicotine delivery systems.”
The impact of such regulatory overhauls could change the nature and scale of the illicit tobacco market and further affect youth smoking rates, said the July 16 joint letter.
