FDA Tobacco Advisory Committee 'Grasping at Straws'

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Grasping at Straws: "Making wild and often times unbelievable assumptions or using far fetched ideas and possibilities to reach the desired conclusion." (Urban Dictionary)

ABC News reports:

"Two of the nation's largest cigarette makers on Friday asked a federal court to stop the Food and Drug Administration from relying on recommendations made by an advisory panel on issues such as menthol cigarettes."

Why in the face of ongoing litigation would the FDA again move to entice another legal action—because TPSAC is grasping at straws.

TPSAC has just released slides from its February 11 meeting. Nowhere in the presentation does TPSAC state that it is going to review the adverse public health consequences of smoking contraband cigarettes.

TPSAC is ignoring its statutory mandate to examine the negative health effects of contraband cigarettes notwithstanding numerous requests by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness that it discharge its legally binding Congressional mandate.

It appears that TPSAC believes an incomplete record is its best judicial defense—a real grasping of the straws.

SOURCE Center for Regulatory Effectiveness