WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- Some tobacco companies are dissatisfied with how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has managed its regulatory duties over tobacco products, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. On Monday, agency officials met with more than 200 attendees during the annual Tobacco Merchants Association conference.

"We are going to communicate as clearly and openly with you as we can," said David Ashley, director of the office of science at the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. "We want to be as transparent as we can."

The focus of the conference is on federal regulation, which has changed over the past two years since Congress gave the FDA the power to control tobacco products. Becoming accustomed to the oversight has been difficult for small tobacco firms, said Ron Tully, vice president of National Tobacco Co. "It has been an enormously burdensome exercise."

Already, the agency has banned the use of "lights" and "low-tar" terms on cigarette brand descriptions, as well as prohibiting most flavor additions to cigarettes. Issues to be tackled include graphic warning labels on packages, menthol in cigarettes and "modified risk" products. Agency officials said they valued industry input as it moves forward.

However, some at the conference did not have favorable opinions of the FDA??s track record so far. "There were real and apparent conflicts of interest" on the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, said Michael Ogden, senior director of regulatory oversight for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. "There were numerous instances of open hostility from the advisory committee to representatives of the industry."