http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/org/fda.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/08/29/for-chantix-and-ambien-ads-that-dare-not-speak-the-drugs-names/ http://tobacco.org/news/270661.html And Pfizer, whose smoking-cessation drug Chantix has come under scrutiny for psychiatric side effects, has recently revived ads that send people to mytimetoquit.com. The site gives readers lots of options to "learn about a prescription treatment option" -- which turns out to mean clicking through to the Chantix Web site. The campaign isn't designed to circumvent FDA rules, Pfizer spokeswoman Sally Beatty tells the WSJ. "My Time to Quit is designed to encourage people who are thinking about quitting to speak to their health-care provider about the benefits of quitting smoking and available treatment options," she said. Wall Street Journal Blogs healthblog@wsj.com Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121996938848181717.html http://tobacco.org/news/270660.html Pfizer Inc. has found a way to encourage the use of its antismoking drug Chantix without detailing serious potential side effects through a commercial that doesn't mention Chantix at all. During NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics this month, Pfizer aired a commercial in which a middle-age woman tells the camera, "At 6:30 in the morning, I have a cigarette. And then another on my way to work." During the 60-second commercial, a voice discusses ways to break the habit and directs viewers to Mytimetoquit.com. Visitors to the site find a link to a Chantix site that contains information on the antismoking drug, including the negative side effects. Such "unbranded product advertising" like the mytimetoquit.com spot is gaining popularity among drugmakers, which in recent months have come under renewed fire from lawmakers for the ways in which they promote drugs directly to consumers. Under Food and Drug Administration rules, if an ad doesn't directly name the drug, it doesn't have to include the reading of possible side effects The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?StoryID=714535&LinkFrom=RSS http://tobacco.org/news/270394.html What would happen if nicotine replacement lozenges were as easy to buy as Tic Tac mints? State Health Commissioner Richard Daines believes more smokers would purchase them instead of cigarettes. Daines petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January to relax the regulations on nicotine replacement therapy. Right now, so-called "safe nicotine" products are kept behind drugstore counters and sold only in large quantities. The FDA responded to Daines' request earlier this month and said the agency needs more time to study the issue. . . . To read and comment on Health Commissioner Richard Daines' FDA petition, go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID: FDA-2008-P-0116 Albany Times-Union ccrowley@timesunion.com (CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY, Staff writer) Sat, 23 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200808251801DOWJONESDJONLINE000417_FORTUNE5.htm http://tobacco.org/news/270393.html With bipartisan support for an effort to give the Food and Drug Administration sweeping new authority to regulate tobacco and recent House passage of a tobacco regulation bill, the stars once seemed aligned for Senate action on tobacco legislation this year. But a key senator has pledged to block the bill, and with a crowded Senate schedule, that may be enough to scuttle it until next year. Sen. Richard M. Burr, R-N.C., has repeatedly threatened to veto the bill if it comes up on the Senate floor in September, when members return from their summer recess for a three-week work period. A filibuster would likely push the bill off the agenda in September, leaving it for a lame-duck session or consideration when Congress returns next year. Dow Jones via Nasdaq Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080826/NEWS01/808260310/1002 http://tobacco.org/news/270392.html While communities around the country prepare for more tobacco-free measures, new research has shown that the tobacco industry has not only manipulated menthol to enhance addiction but also hidden what it knew about tobacco smoke containing radioactive polonium-210. Mayo Clinic and Stanford University research has revealed recently that tobacco companies knew tobacco smoke actually exposed smokers and those around them to 300 times the radiation from an annual chest X-ray. Published in the American Journal of Public Health, the study shows that tobacco companies suppressed their own internal research finding significant levels of Polonium-210 in tobacco. . . . Federal legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives recently to allow the FDA limited authority over tobacco. . . . Area Representative John Boozman voted for the bill. Senators Lincoln and Pryor have yet to vote on the Senate's version. Baxter Bulletin Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=318764&paper=65&cat=110 http://tobacco.org/news/270391.html I’m appalled at the number of youth, clearly under the age of 18, I see smoking cigarettes. Joe Camel might be a scheme of the past, but the tobacco industry continues to find ways to seduce our children into becoming smokers. Just visit the local 7-11 store and you will find candy-flavored cigarettes. . . . I urge Senators Webb and Warner to do their part and work to pass S 625 this year. We need to stop protecting Big Tobacco and start protecting our children. The Connection Newspapers Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.csnews.com/csn/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003843029 http://tobacco.org/news/270387.html Due to an upcoming busy Senate calendar and a possible veto, the bipartisan support for the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate tobacco might be put on hold until next year, Dow Jones Newswires reported. If the bill became a law, it would have a dramatic effect on publicly traded companies such as Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), Lorillard Inc. (LO) and Altria Group Inc. (MO), the report stated. Provisions in the bill would give the FDA limited authority to monitor smoking products and ban flavored cigarettes, with an exemption for menthol-flavored cigarettes. Dow Jones Newswires reported if passed, the legislation could impose controls on advertising that restrict companies to plain, black and white "tombstone" advertisements and stop the use of the terms “low tar" and "mild." Convenience Store News Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-21-2008/0004871303&EDATE= http://tobacco.org/news/270257.html The comprehensive report released today by the National Cancer Institute provides the government's strongest conclusion to date that tobacco marketing causes kids to smoke and that anti-tobacco advertising campaigns prevent smoking. The 684-page report, The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, is an exhaustive review of more than 1,000 scientific studies and presents definitive conclusions that a) tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use, and b) exposure to depictions of smoking in the movies is causally related to youth smoking initiation. The report also concludes that mass media campaigns can reduce smoking, but so-called "youth smoking prevention campaigns" sponsored by the tobacco industry have been generally ineffective and may actually have increased youth smoking. PR Newswire Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/138429.html http://tobacco.org/news/270240.html Both major U.S. Senate candidates say they oppose regulation of tobacco by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - though incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole goes further than challenger Kay Hagan. Dole and Hagan argue that the FDA does not have the expertise or resources to regulate the tobacco industry, given the agency's focus on the safety of food and pharmaceuticals. "The last thing on earth we need is to have tobacco added to that list," said Dole, a Salisbury Republican. "They don't have expertise in tobacco, and heaven knows they don't have the funding to do what they're doing now." Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, said much the same thing in an interview. "I don't think FDA has the staff to do tobacco regulation at this point in time," she said. . . . "This is a back-door way of simply shutting down the industry entirely," Dole said. Charlotte Observer /personas?plckUserId=@Nyx.Key (David Ingram) Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080819/NEWS/708189988/1006/news http://tobacco.org/news/270190.html In essence, the bill is another large-scale effort by the federal government to tell us something we already know too well -- that smoking kills hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. But in this case, we're simply not convinced it's necessary to grow the size of the federal government to deliver that warning. For one thing, no amount of FDA regulation will change the fact that cigarettes, though deadly, even when used properly, still are a legal product for adult use. And we'd much rather see the FDA spend its time, talents and resources concentrating on current, pressing issues . . . We also question the value of the bill, even if it works as advertised, given that it contains a massive loophole for tobacco companies. . . . We believe the Senate can't afford to get bogged down in a debate over tobacco at a time when several other critical issues are awaiting action. . . . Any delay in flood assistance caused by a fight over tobacco legislation would be unacceptable. . . . we think it's possible that new measures to curtail marketing, expand warning labels and increase education could be accomplished without growing government or over-stretching the FDA. Cedar Rapids Gazette steve.buttry@gazcomm.com Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.dailynewstribune.com/editorials/x418532846/Editorial-Tobacco-fix http://tobacco.org/news/270187.html Like the fact that household paints no longer contain toxic lead? Or that milk must be pasteurized? From antidepressants to breast implants to cosmetics to dog food, Uncle Sam already has the power to monitor products to protect public health. As Harvard Medical School professor Allen Brandt writes in the most recent New England Journal of Medicine, ``The regulatory status of cigarettes arguably represents one of the most paradoxical stories in American medicine. The single most dangerous legal product in U.S. consumer society has eluded virtually all federal regulation until now.'' It's inexcusable to continue to give tobacco a pass. Waltham Daily News Tribune bspiegel@cnc.com (GateHouse News Service ) Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080818/OPINION12/808180301/1002/OPINION http://tobacco.org/news/270181.html Congress is known for leaving business unfinished, but rarely is a task left undone for more than four decades. The tobacco industry is a prolific donor of campaign funds and a lobbying titan. So the federal government has left it mostly alone since the 1964 Surgeon General's report declared that cigarette smoking causes disease and death. . . . The politics of this belated action are notable and, it must be said, should give pause to any American who thinks that Congress, or "Washington," can never ever achieve anything of genuine significance. Finally, a bipartisan -- and veto-proof -- majority of House members voted to support public health rather than suck up to Big Tobacco. In the Senate, supporters of the measure believe they have enough votes to survive a veto and perhaps even a threatened filibuster. Both presidential contenders are co-sponsors of the Senate bill. Which leaves the Bush administration isolated. . . . The reasoning is positively Orwellian. "FDA regulates drugs and devices by approving products after weighing the benefits against the risks of a product," the White House policy statement on the bill says. "In contrast, there is no such thing as a cigarette in which the benefits outweigh the risks. The use of tobacco products is inherently unsafe." . . . The only other translation possible is that the White House has concluded cigarettes are so dangerous the government should do nothing about them. You might recognize this as the sort of doublespeak the industry itself mastered long ago. . . . a handful of opponents could still impede action. These are the kinds of smoke screens that have been used to shield tobacco in the past: The first effort at legislation along these lines was introduced more than two decades ago. With 400,000 deaths each year and more than four decades after we were told this would be tobacco's effect, it is awfully hard to see how congressional delay and political denial should still carry the day. Indianapolis Star Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.awmanet.org/update/080814update05.html http://tobacco.org/news/270151.html When Congress returns from its August recess, it is poised to consider two very high-profile, election-year bills - legislation to provide unprecedented Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco and legislation to significantly increase the Federal Excise Tax (FET) on tobacco products as part of an expansion of a low-income children's health insurance program. For this reason, AWMA urges our members to visit our Web site by clicking HERE to access a pre-written letter on these two important issues that may be sent directly to congressional lawmakers. . . . AWMA has also learned that Congress may be poised to consider legislation in early Fall that would increase the Federal Excise Tax (FET) on tobacco to finance a significant expansion of the children's health insurance program known as SCHIP. Despite defeating this issue some months ago, lawmakers have been emboldened by a recent vote on expansion of the Medicare program in the House and Senate. There is a good chance that this issue will come up again after the August recess and AWMA wants to be sure that our lawmakers are aware of our concerns over such an effort. In addition to urging members to send letters to congressional lawmakers, AWMA stands ready to help any member who wishes to set up an appointment with their congressional representatives while they are back home in their various states and districts over the August recess. American Wholesale Marketers Association info@awmanet.org Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,396982,00.html http://tobacco.org/news/270140.html This is still a free country, right? Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to more closely regulate the wages that firms pay workers and to more strictly regulate tobacco products by putting them under FDA supervision. . . . The Democrats' "Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act" is a strange creature. It prevents the FDA from banning existing tobacco products. However, products introduced after Feb. 15, 2007, must receive FDA approval . . . Smokers, like those who eat ice cream, have trade-offs. Some might like the taste, others its calming effects. But smoking may also reduce the risk of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases as well as cancers of the thyroid, breast and skin. In any case, whether it is hang gliding or smoking, it ought to be the customers' preferences that count. Proposals such as Obama's for a national ban on smoking in public places have their own problems. The ultimate objection to smoking focuses on the harm that it imposes on others. The evidence for harm from second-hand smoke is extremely weak . . . smoking in restaurants should not be considered a common pool problem subject to government intervention. Restaurants that allow smoking don't base their policy merely on their love of smokers; they are responding to competitive pressures and customer preferences. . . . If employers provide a work environment that employees don't like (say, because some object to smoky air), employers have to pay more to get people to work there. Restaurant smoking is more like a private fishery than a common pool. Nonsmokers may feel better off because of bans, but what they gain is less than what smokers lose. If the opposite were true, it wouldn't be necessary to impose the bans. Fox News views@foxnews.com (John R. Lott, Jr) Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.arkansasleader.com/2008/08/editorial-kickin-habit.html http://tobacco.org/news/270035.html A government nanny may be meddlesome, but it can make life better for all of us, as a state health survey about smoking demonstrates. . . . State Rep. Gene Shelby, D-Hot Springs, is considering introducing a bill to raise the tax by 50 cents a pack to pay for a statewide trauma system, which is badly needed. The extra tax would curtail smoking so much that the tax might produce only marginally more revenue for the state than the current levy, but that would be all right. Urge your favorite lawmaker to vote for it. While you're at it, page your Washington lawmakers -- Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and Representatives Vic Snyder and Marion Berry -- and tell them to support legislation to authorize the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes that hook young blacks. Arkansas Leader leaderclassifieds@arkansasleader.com Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT