RICHMOND, VA - Virginia-based tobacco maker Star Scientific said it has developed a moist, smokeless tobacco with lower levels of cancer-causing chemicals than other tobacco products and will seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market the item as safer than its competitors, the Associated Press reports.

Star Scientific said the "modified risk" label that the FDA is developing is appropriate for its new Stonewall Moist-BDL because it contains up to 99 percent less tobacco-specific carcinogens than other smokeless tobacco products.

However, the Centers for Disease Control maintains that because smokeless tobacco contains 28 cancer-causing agents, it is not a safe smoking alternative, despite a 2007 report from the United Kingdom's Royal College of Physicians that suggests some smokeless tobacco products are less harmful than cigarettes.

The FDA is currently considering similar applications from Star for two of its dissolvable tobacco products, which are sold under the Ariva and Stonewall brands.

The FDA assumed oversight in 2009 of tobacco products and has the authority to approve some as safer than others. But the Associated Press said it could still take the agency another year to finalize its guidelines for such products.