BY DUFF WILSON
January 6, 2011
Federal regulators on Wednesday outlined rules for the tobacco industry that for the first time require disclosure of any changes to their products, and that detail how to seek permission to market new products under the sweeping tobacco control law signed by President Obama in June 2009.
“Up to now, tobacco products have been the only mass-consumed products for which users do not know what they are consuming,” Dr. Lawrence R. Deyton, director of the Center for Tobacco Products of the Food and Drug Administration, said in a conference call with reporters.
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Any tobacco product changed after Feb. 15, 2007, when the legislation was introduced in Congress, must be reviewed by the agency. The disclosures by the companies are expected by March 22. Companies may apply for a fast track review of new products that are “substantially equivalent” to earlier products.
One of the practical effects, Mr. Myers said, is that tobacco products changed after March 22 cannot be sold unless the F.D.A. permits it. The agency has the power to order some products to be removed from the market that were introduced in the period from Feb. 15, 2007, to March 22.
Read more about this tobacco issue in the New York Times article linked below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/health/06tobacco.html
