FDA Head: 'No' to Tobacco Cigarettes too "inherently dangerous" to regulate; would "undermine mission."

October 5, 2007 - FDA Head: 'No' to Tobacco Cigarettes too "inherently dangerous" to regulate; would "undermine mission." The head of the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the FDA commissioner said that his agency should not be required to regulate tobacco, but that it is open to some expanded role in the fight against smoking. Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the FDA commissioner, did not attend the hearing Wednesday on legislation to authorize his agency to determine how tobacco products should be made, marketed and sold, said the report. In a statement sent to the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, von Eschenbach said: "Associating the agency with the approval of these inherently dangerous products would undermine the agency’s mission.” He added that the legislation would not give the FDA—which is responsible for such things as pharmaceutical safety—adequate money to establish a new regulatory structure for tobacco and that the bill sets unrealistic deadlines to make progress against smoking. (CSP News) Without regulations that strictly limit the distribution of SNUS we will end up with another generation of nicotine addicts. from SNUS.biz: Even Chris Proctor, Head of Science and Regulation for British American Tobacco has stated, “We’re also responding to public health stakeholders who told us they believe snus, PROPERLY REGULATED, can contribute to reducing the impact of tobacco on public health. We hope more stakeholders, including governments, will agree.” Hyland et al. (Addictive Behaviors 31:1190-1200, 2006) have concluded that only under strict regulations the increase in low-nitrosamine smokeless tobacco use could reduce overall smoking prevalence yielding potentially substantial health benefits. Well - at the present time it looks like we are NOT going to have a federal agency to regulate tobacco products in the USA. . At least in the U.S.A. we'd never have strict restrictions that were enforced, e.g., Camel SNUS the tag line and an ad - Do you think they're appealing to inveterate (hard-nosed, long established, deep-rooted) cigarette smokers that refuse to consider trying to quit smoking tobacco?? Get Real!! (TobaccoWatch.org)