Regulating tobacco products
Tobacco is a uniquely dangerous consumer product: half of all life-long smokers die prematurely from smoking-related diseases. Although the scale of harm varies from one product to another, there is no safe level of use.
A 2007 review of the health effects of smokeless tobacco products by the EU Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) concluded that smokeless tobacco products are addictive, contain various levels of toxic substances and are hazardous to health.
Since the 1950s, the tobacco industry has tried but failed to produce and market less hazardous cigarettes. There is no such thing as a safe cigarette – a fact now acknowledged by tobacco companies. Undeterred, the industry has continued to research and develop reduced risk tobacco products, particularly in the USA. Such products are now regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Tobacco Regulation in the USA
In 2001, the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a comprehensive review of the research: Clearing the Smoke: Assessing the Science Base for Tobacco Harm Reduction and concluded that there had been no significant progress in manufacturing a less hazardous cigarette. This was followed by a 2007 report: Ending the Tobacco Problem: a Blueprint for the Nation which reviewed the novel tobacco and cigarette-like products developed by the industry such as devices that heat rather than burn tobacco. The IOM concluded that there was still not enough evidence to prove that these products which the IOM referred to as PREPS (Potential Reduced Exposure Products) were effective in reducing harm from smoking.
The IOM called on the US Government to give the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) powers to regulate the manufacture, marketing and use of tobacco products. This led to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, 2009 which authorises the FDA to regulate tobacco and also to investigate and report on the health effects of new and existing tobacco products. Key provisions of the Act include prohibition of reduced harm claims including “light” “low” or “mild” without an FDA order to allow marketing; a requirement for larger health warnings; and a ban on flavourings except for menthol.
