FDA CTR Scientific Advisory Committee to meet - dissolvable tobacco products..

July 11, 2010 - The second meeting of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) Scientific Advisory Committee is scheduled for July 15-16, 2010 to discuss menthol and dissolvable tobacco products.

We should feel fortunate that dissolvables are on the agenda. At one time in a commentary in the journal of Pediatrics, Dr. Laurence R. Deyton, director of CTP had indicated that dissolvable products are the second priority for review by the FDA office, after menthol cigarettes.(U.S. - senator urges FDA to pull dissolvable tobacco products from test market sites..) If the FDA is sincere about curbing access to and appeal of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products to children and adolescents in the United States then we can't have tobacco dissolvables in dosage forms such as: pellets, sticks and edible strips for the tongue. (Camel Dissolvables - can they be considered candy-like..) One way these products could exist is to have all flavoring removed. (Part 2: avoidance of nicotine addiction - remove the flavoring from all tobacco products..)

If the committee would have waited until the recommendations regarding menthol cigarettes were completed, this would put the start of the dissolvable products review around the first of next year. By this time we could have a few nicotine poisonings but thousands of children with a life-long addiction to nicotine. This is unacceptable, after all we are involved in public health - if you see an epidemic brewing you react immediately. FDA Center for Tobacco Products is seeking opinions on dissolvable products by September 18, 2010. But we can't wait that long.

As pointed out by Dr. Gregory Connolly, the director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health, these nicotine dosage forms (Sticks like a toothpick, Orbs, which is a pellet and edible film Strips - like placing a postage stamp on your tongue similar to breath strips) are easier to tolerate so kids will become possible life-long nicotine addicts at a much younger age compared with cigarette initiation.

On February 1st the FDA in its letters to the two companies, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Star Scientific, asked both manufacturers for extensive information on research and marketing practices for the products. Both companies had to respond. (U.S. FDA - concerned that dissolvable tobacco products could draw in children and teenagers..)

Dr. Deyton wrote in his letter of the center's concern that "brightly colored" packaging and "candy-like appearance" of the products may appeal to children. He also is concerned about whether the nicotine content in the products "may facilitate initiation of tobacco use, nicotine dependence and addiction in adolescents, and may serve as a mechanism for inadvertent toxicity in children." (U.S. FDA - concerned that dissolvable tobacco products could draw in children and teenagers..)

The FDA should also listen to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) when he urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to pull the dissolvable tobacco products – namely Camel’s Orbs, Sticks, and Strips – from stores until the agency could conduct a study of their effects on children and teenagers. (U.S. - senator urges FDA to pull dissolvable tobacco products from test market sites..)

Just the dosage forms alone of these flavored products are not acceptable: - orbs - that looks like candies currently on the market, a stick similar to a toothpick and probably the worst is the little edible strips that are placed on the tongue like a Listerine breath strip, for quick absorption. The primary mission of CTP is to prevent our children - the next generation from becoming nicotine addicts never able to achieve their full potential. (Smokeless Tobacco products with up to 700% more flavor additives than candy..)

Camel Dissolvables like Orbs - chance of nicotine poisoning increased..

Our children are confused about these dissolvable tobacco products:

Children may have a tough time telling the difference between tobacco products in brightly colored packaging and packages of candy and gum, according to a 9Wants to Know investigation. (More children - difference between tobacco packaging and packages of candy and gum??)

One out of three teenagers younger than 18 mistakenly identified a new type of smokeless tobacco product as candy or gum in a survey conducted by a Virginia tobacco-prevention group. (Virginia - 1 of 3 teenagers identified smokeless tobacco products as candy or gum..)

Children in Indiana starting to use smokeless tobacco products..

Poison Control Centers - Camel Dissolvables - Nicotine Toxicity..

This is our chance to get these products off the market or at least make them less appealing by having all flavoring removed. (STOP the Release of Dissolvable Tobacco Products..)

Two U.S. senators (Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Sherrod Brown) have labeled as "tobacco candy" the three dissolvable products being test marketed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. The senators say that the dissolvable products are aimed at getting youths hooked on tobacco and nicotine. They said that some of the products are sold in containers "designed to resemble cell phones." "There is no doubt that smokeless tobacco products are aimed squarely at children," Brown said. "We have a responsibility to protect children from suggestive marketing and dangerous products."
(U.S. - snuff out dissolvable smokeless-tobacco products before they can get a toehold..)

Remember what UST's former salesman Bob Beets, said, "Cherry Skoal (moist snuff) for somebody who likes the taste of candy, if you know what I mean."

"Our Highest Priority Has To Be Keeping Children From Beginning To Use Tobacco Products" Dr. Richard Carmona, 17th Surgeon General of the USA.

A few related news briefs:
Camel Dissolvables like Orbs - chance of nicotine poisoning increased..;
Dissolving Tobacco Hits Columbus, OH Test Market - see VIDEO..;
Portland, Oregon - Camel ORBS - candy-like tobacco tablets..;
U.S. - A contradiction H.R. 1261 Youth Prevention and Tobacco Harm Reduction..;
R.J. Reynolds Smokeless so safe - not fair to tax.??;
U.S. group acknowledged that smokeless-tobacco products are an option for reducing health risks for tobacco users..;
Poison Control Centers - Camel Dissolvables - Nicotine Toxicity..; Nasal snuff another harm reduction product..;
Why does R.J. Reynolds Tobacco keep on selecting Portland, OR as a test site..;
Camel Tobacco Dissolvables - Natl Assoc of Attorneys General - wait and see!!;
STOP the Release of Dissolvable Tobacco Products..;
We must stop the launch of dissolvable tobacco products..; Reynolds America moving ahead with dissolvable tobacco products..;
STOP - the Proliferation of Flavored Tobacco Products..;
R.J. Reynolds Dissolvables - it looks like candy..;
Snus News & Other Tobacco Products: STOP - the Proliferation of Flavored Tobacco Products..