New FDA Commissioner Saves the Day: Embraces Harm Reduction Strategy for Tobacco Control

On Friday, the new FDA Commissioner - Dr. Scott Gottlieb - saved the day for the public ' s health by officially embracing aharm reduction approach to tobacco control. Commissioner Gottlieb announced a new approach to the regulation of tobacco products that, unlike the FDA ' s previous strategy, acknowledges the vastly different risks of tobacco cigarettes compared to electronic cigarettes and proposes to regulate each product in alignment with its risk level.Previously, the FDA had simply lumped e-cigarettes into the exact same category as tobacco cigarettes and in fact, regulated e-cigarettes much more stringently. The FDA previously required e-cigarettes to complete burdensome and expensive pre-market applications just to remain on the market, a process from which all cigarettes were exempted. The old approach would have destroyed about 99% of the existing vaping product market, leading to a major reduction in smoking cessation in the U.S. and with that, an increase in smoking-related morbidity and mortality.Instead, the FDA will now delay the implementation of the pre-market application requirement for e-cigarettes while seeking ways to ease the expense and burden of the process. At the same time, the FDA will - for the first time - actually set safety standards for e-cigarettes so that the benefits of these products can be realized while minimizing potential harms. And, to top it all off, the agency will consider - also for the first time - actually setting a safety stan...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs