From: AP via ABC News
By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM AP Tobacco Writer
The Food and Drug Administration can’t use an advisory panel’s 2011 report on menthol cigarettes because its members had conflicts of interest, a federal judge ruled Monday.
While the agency has since conducted an independent review on the public health impact of menthol cigarettes, the ruling could hinder the FDA’s ability to defend any future regulation of the minty smokes.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington ordered the FDA on Monday to reconstitute the tobacco panel and barred the agency from using its older report on menthol cigarettes.