From: CSPnet.com
By Thomas A. Briant, Executive Director
Last October, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a set of proposed “deeming” regulations that likely included regulations on cigars, pipe tobacco, electronic cigarettes and hookah tobacco.
While the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) currently regulates cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act which authorized the FDA to regulate tobacco products also grants the agency the authority to extend tobacco regulations to other products deemed to be tobacco products. For this reason, the FDA has submitted proposed regulations that are currently under review by the OMB.
NATO contacted the OMB two weeks ago to inquire about the status of the FDA deeming regulations. The OMB official informed NATO that in January of this year the FDA’s CTP requested the OMB for an extension of time to complete the review of the proposed deeming regulations. The OMB official also informed NATO that the review of the deeming regulations continues and will be finalized as quickly as possible.