FDA Tobacco Regulator Promises Firm Approach, Open Mind

Lawrence Deyton addresses tobacco execs; says the agency is assessing how cigars and OTP might fall under regulatory control.

May 27, 2010

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - The Food and Drug Administration's top tobacco regulator signaled earlier this week that he would take a firm approach to overseeing the industry while keeping an open mind about new products and plans to reduce tobacco-related illnesses, the Wall Street Journal reports.

In a speech before members of the Tobacco Merchants Association, Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said that he would focus on reducing tobacco use among minors. Along those lines, he expressed his concern that new, dissolvable forms of smokeless tobacco appear candy-like, and thus appeals to children.

Deyton did not specifically mention smokeless tobacco, which some tobacco companies hope to be able to promote as less harmful than cigarettes, though he expressed an openness to consider all relevant ideas.

"There's no monopoly on great ideas, so we at FDA will keep an ear open for great ideas as we move ahead," Deyton said.

However, referencing the industry's "long history of resistance to government action," Deyton warned that the FDA would issue civil penalties to enforce regulations and that the agency has just begun assessing cigars and other tobacco products as to how they might fall under regulatory control.

"We are examining the public health impact of other products" besides cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, he said, "but on no particular deadline."

Deyton assumed his position last September, a few months after the FDA was given broad authority to regulate tobacco. It was one of his first addresses to tobacco executives.

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